The specialized literature in the field of education has not focused in what ways the multilingual classroom setting exacerbates teachers' tension concerning the need to comply with standards, on the one hand, and the aspiration to embrace diversity, on the other hand. That is to say, there is a need to understand how teachers adapt to confront the tension between standardization and multilingualism. Understanding teachers' experiences will be important to inform policy with regards to the implementation of standardized testing in multilingual settings and how these affect the cultural rights of minority students. The way teachers surf or navigate the tension will inform to what extent cultural rights of ethnic minority students are jeopardized due to the increasing interest in standardization. Therefore, the purpose of this grounded study is to explore the adaptive process of elementary teachers in multilingual classrooms as they confront the tension between meeting the educational needs of multilingual students, while complying with the mandated standardization requirements in Miami public schools. The study adds to the vast literature on standardized testing by providing information about teachers' experiences in highly multilingual settings, such in the public schools in Miami Dade County.