Bilingual educators at a Southern California elementary school after Proposition 227

In June of 1998, California voters made history with the passage of English Language Education for the Children in Public Schools, Proposition 227, which affected bilingual education in the State. It was the first time that the public voted on a specific pedagogical strategy for educating children. This study examined five bilingual teachers at a Southern California English-only school who shared how Proposition 227 had affected them in their classrooms and their teaching of English language learners. The bilingual teachers were interviewed and observed in their classroom three times during the study. Five significant categories emerged from the bilingual teachers' interviews and observation data. The five main findings of the study were: 1) Exclusion of Bilingual Education, 2) Adjusting to English-only Policy, 3) English Language Development Staff Training, 4) Standards Based Curriculum Pedagogy, and 5) Fear of Failing English Language Learners. The bilingual teachers' stories reflected their concerns regarding the challenges they faced with losing their pedagogical autonomy and the detrimental influence that politics had on their instructional methods