We are pleased to announce the co-recipients of the 2026 TIRF James E. Alatis Prize for Research on Language Planning and Policy in Educational Contexts. Dr. Scott E. Grapin and Ms. Eunae Kim have been selected as this year’s recipients of TIRF’s Alatis Prize. Their article is entitled “District Supervisors’ Sensemaking and Implementation of English Language Development Standards: WIDA 2020 Edition” (2025, AERA Open, Sage).

Individuals interested in downloading and reading the TIRF Alatis Prize-winning article may do so by clicking here. TIRF sincerely thanks colleagues at the American Educational Research Association and SAGE for their support in ensuring the article is openly accessible to the public.

When asked about what receiving the TIRF Alatis Prize means to them, Dr. Grapin and Ms. Kim responded, “A key finding of the study was that implementation of ELD standards calls for concerted collaboration among stakeholders. Such collaboration was a central theme of Dr. Alatis’s long and storied career in TESOL. We are also thrilled to accept this award as an advisor-advisee co-author team, which resonates with TIRF’s commitment to mentoring the next generation of scholars in English language education. We are grateful to TIRF for this generous award and hope this article raises awareness of the potential of English language development standards as a policy lever for multilingual learner equity.” 

About the Awardees

Scott E. Grapin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). Broadly, Scott’s research centers on policy and practice for multilingual learners in K-12 education. Specifically, his research focuses on advancing innovations in curriculum, instruction, and assessment for multilingual learners in content area classes, especially STEM subjects. Scott has served on the editorial boards of journals across multiple fields, including TESOL Quarterly, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and Educational Researcher. He has also partnered with local and national organizations to develop educational resources and facilitate professional learning for teachers of multilingual learners. Prior to joining Hunter College, CUNY, Scott was an Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami. He earned his PhD in TESOL from New York University. Scott began his career in education as an ESL and Spanish teacher in the New Jersey public schools.

Eunae Kim is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami. Her research focuses on multilingual learners and heritage language learners from immigrant backgrounds as well as digital literacies, with particular attention to how learners’ linguistic and cultural resources can be leveraged in and out of school. Prior to her doctoral studies, Eunae earned an MA in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University and worked as a lecturer of Korean at the University of Pennsylvania.

We wish to note that Dr. Scott Grapin (TIRF’s 2019 Russell N. Campbell Awardee) previously received a TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant. You can read a summary of his doctoral work on TIRF’s website by clicking here, using the “Recipients” tab, and filtering to the year 2019.

Please join the TIRF community in congratulating Dr. Scott Grapin and Ms. Eunae Kim on their wonderful accomplishment!

About TIRF and the TIRF Alatis Prize

The TIRF Alatis Prize was established in 2014 to honor James E. Alatis, a TIRF founder and long-serving Trustee of the Foundation. TIRF Trustees decided to recognize an outstanding article or chapter in the field of language planning and policy in educational contexts in Dr. Alatis’ name, because he dedicated a great deal of his career working in the field of language education policy.

For the 2026 Prize, nominations of articles published in 2024 or 2025 were solicited. The Foundation’s team of reviewers, who are scholars in the field of language planning and policy, adjudicated the nominations. TIRF Trustees Joan Kang Shin and Polina Vinogradova (Co-Chairs of TIRF’s Alatis Prize program) along with Trustees Donna Christian and Jodi Crandall, helped to shape many of the competition’s details. The result of this process was the selection of the Grapin and Kim (2025) article highlighted above.

TIRF is committed to developing knowledge about English language learning and teaching in various settings through a coherent program of research, dissemination, and networking. The offering of the TIRF Alatis Prize is consistent with the following aspect of the Foundation’s mission: to influence the formation and implementation of appropriate language education policies, recognizing the importance of indigenous languages and cultures worldwide, and of English as an international language. Members of TIRF’s Board of Trustees, all of whom serve on a voluntary basis, are drawn from academia, publishing, business, and government. To date, TIRF has awarded monies to fund 287 research projects involving 325 researchers from many countries.

To learn more about TIRF, click here, or write to Ryan Damerow, Chief Operating Officer at TIRF, at [email protected].