A retrospective account of the evolution of the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program shows how English learners and students of diverse cultural backgrounds were marginally considered throughout the development of the "California Standards for the Teaching Profession" and BTSA induction development, implementation, and evaluation. In 1999, BTSA induction began to address the needs of students of linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds in a specialized program. The Riverside, Inyo, Mono and San Bernardino BTSA Project received state funding to establish the BTSA English Language Learner Pilot Project. But despite demonstrated success, this pilot project was not adopted by the state. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)