diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
index 56c661c00c..c181689e62 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ module ActionView
   # With the <tt>:as</tt> option we can specify a different name for said local variable. For example, if we
   # wanted it to be +agreement+ instead of +contract+ we'd do:
   #
-  #   <%= render :partial => "contract", :as => :agreement %>
+  #   <%= render :partial => "contract", :as => 'agreement' %>
   #
   # The <tt>:object</tt> option can be used to directly specify which object is rendered into the partial;
   # useful when the template's object is elsewhere, in a different ivar or in a local variable for instance.
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb
index 3fdea23a4a..94c0a8a8fb 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ module ActionView
         locals << @variable_counter if @collection
         find_template(path, locals)
       end
-    end 
+    end
 
     def find_template(path=@path, locals=@locals.keys)
       prefixes = path.include?(?/) ? [] : @view.controller_prefixes
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ module ActionView
     end
 
     def retrieve_variable(path)
-      variable = @options[:as] || path[%r'_?(\w+)(\.\w+)*$', 1].to_sym
+      variable = @options[:as].try(:to_sym) || path[%r'_?(\w+)(\.\w+)*$', 1].to_sym
       variable_counter = :"#{variable}_counter" if @collection
       [variable, variable_counter]
     end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/render_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/render_test.rb
index 38bedd2e4e..e02d69231f 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/render_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/render_test.rb
@@ -146,7 +146,12 @@ module RenderTestCases
     assert_equal "Hello: davidHello: mary", @view.render(:partial => "test/customer", :collection => [ Customer.new("david"), Customer.new("mary") ])
   end
 
-  def test_render_partial_collection_as
+  def test_render_partial_collection_as_by_string
+    assert_equal "david david davidmary mary mary",
+      @view.render(:partial => "test/customer_with_var", :collection => [ Customer.new("david"), Customer.new("mary") ], :as => 'customer')
+  end
+
+  def test_render_partial_collection_as_by_symbol
     assert_equal "david david davidmary mary mary",
       @view.render(:partial => "test/customer_with_var", :collection => [ Customer.new("david"), Customer.new("mary") ], :as => :customer)
   end