This article examines how bilingual programs are often guided by larger social constructs of race and language ideologies that give rise to the often inconsistent, and even contradicting, perceptions of Latina/o, Spanish-speaking students' academic preparedness and abilities. I examine a number of language ideologies as they manifested in a case study of an emerging bilingual student who went from being labeled at risk in a pre-K remedial bilingual program to gifted in a kindergarten two-way dual-language program, as he naturally progressed through one of the school district's bilingual education trajectories.