In this ethnographic study, I investigate the ways in which students of Mexican descent who are designated as limited English proficient are "acquired" by particular social positions in a northern California high school. Focusing on two interrelated and reflexive phenomena in the high school--standardized testing for assessing English proficiency and instruction in English Language Development classes--I demonstrate how, through these institutional rituals and their associated discourses, positions for English language learners are constructed, maintained, and challenged. I examine the interactions of the teachers, staff, administrators, and students across various school settings to illuminate the practical implications of, for instance, being designated limited or fluently proficient in English. I suggest that second-language acquisition policy is appropriated with great variability across federal, state, district, and school levels, and I argue that through these courses of action, particular social fields and the positions for English language learners are defined locally as ones of "success" and more often "failure."