Alli Klapp, senior lecturer in education at the Department of Education and Special Education, was awarded the annual course literature prize from the publisher Studentlitteratur for her book about assessment, grading and learning.
Since 2005, Alli Klapp has been conducting research on issues related to the assessment of coursework and the determination of grades at the University of Gothenburg and at Columbia University in New York City. Her research highlights different perspectives, including what marks measure in terms of the personal characteristics of the students and the kinds of knowledge they possess and how marks can affect student learning and achievement.
In the book, Alli Klapp illustrates in particular how assessments, marks, and learning relate to each other, and she clarifies how this affects both the school as a whole and the individual student.
The jury’s statement concerning the prize of SEK 150,000 reads: “A critical reflection on the latest research results is combined here with practical concrete advice for how teachers can develop, under the current system, their assessments and their assignment of marks.”
“I primarily teach in courses concerning assessment, and I have contact with many student teachers. Now I have written a book that I think is significant and that I lacked and would have found useful when I was teaching. The book takes a comprehensive, integrated approach to the field of assessment,” remarks Alli Klapp.
“The big question is how we create a school, a programme, and an assessment system where students learn as much as possible and can succeed irrespective of their individual background and circumstances such as gender and social status,” she observes.
The book is aimed at students in a teacher-training programme as well as to practising teachers in preschool all the way up to adult education.