Formative assessment is important for facilitating student learning but defining and applying it in classrooms can be complicated. The study aimed to describe formative assessment practices and their impact on student performance in public secondary schools in Badin district. Teachers and male students participated through a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale. The analysis showed formative assessment's role in student performance but also confusion from different interpretations and difficulties implementing it effectively in classrooms. Suggestions are provided.

1. Essay on formative assessment
By Rehman and Saeed
The importance of formative assessment in facilitating student learning has been well
established in the literature. However, defining and applying formative assessment in
classroom settings is a rather complicated task. The aim of this study is to describe formative
assessment practices and its impact on students` performance as implemented in public
secondary schools’ in district Badin, and develop a framework of action for analysing and
understanding formative assessment processes. The research was quantitative in nature. The
selected secondary school teachers and students of the ninth and matric class participated in
the study. The teachers differ in their teaching experience and gender while the selection of
students was limited to boys. The analysis of the data was carried out with the help of
questionnaire using Likert scale 5.0. The analysis denoted the role of formative assessment on
students` performance and also pointed out the confusions arising from the various
interpretations of the concept and the difficulties in implementing effectively formative
assessment in classroom settings. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are drawn
and suggestions for further research are finally provided.