This 20-month ethnographic and discourse analytic study utilizes data collected in a Midwestern school district across homes, schools, the community, and district offices to understand the interplay between educational language policies and the social identity development and opportunities of newly-arrived, ELL students and their families. The goal of the work is to bring new dimension to the conversation about educational equity for ELL students by illuminating how policy and multilingual identity are negotiated in schools and at home.