Standards-based curricula are being created throughout the world, and exit exams are being implemented in order to make sure that students meet those standards. There is a real potential that these standards will help improve the achievement of students, but there is also a possibility that these exams will be implemented in a way that will be harmful to English language learners by denying them a chance for further education and threatening the existence of bilingual education. This paper examines a controversial language planning case, the enforcement of a writing exam requirement at Hostos Community College in New York City. Using Cooper's (1989) accounting framework, this policy analysis examines the covert agendas and implicit ideological agendas of actors in this language planning case and identifies points of leverage that can be used to influence similar cases in the future. (Contains 37 references.) (KFT)