In March, the Department for Education launched two separate consultations on primary assessment (see bit.ly/PrimaryConsult17 and bit.ly/RochfordConsult). We have until 22 June to have our say. For what it’s worth, here are six things I’d call for:

A baseline test to be taken early in Reception year

This is a no-brainer for me. Officially, progress is only measured from the end of Year 2 to the end Year 6, which presents an odd and incomplete picture that has resulted in the EYFS to key stage 1 travesty in current RAISE reports and dashboards. If we must have a progress measure, then surely we want to measure the whole journey, rather than just the last leg of it.

Checks and balances to ensure the reliability of the baseline

The KS1 baseline is not robust, so neither is the progress measure that relies upon it. It is imperative that we get this right, so we can have faith in the data and defend against the manipulation of results.

An overhaul of floor standards

Scrap the attainment component of the floor and create a single Progress 8-style measure, either by combining reading and maths or reading, maths and English, grammar, punctuation and spelling. The coasting measure should be scrapped or changed. Remember the quadrant plots in RAISE? Perhaps a school that plots “significantly” in the lower-right quadrant three years running (ie, has consistently high attainment and low progress) could be considered coasting. Any thresholds should be set in advance.

Removal of writing from all ‘high-stakes’ measures

Whatever happens with writing assessment at KS2, it really has no place in any key performance measure. High stakes and teacher assessment make for unhappy bedfellows; ongoing concerns about validity mean that the data cannot be relied upon. It’s already been removed from baselines for Progress 8, so why is it still included in such critical measures for primary schools?

A rethink on nominal scoring

It clearly doesn’t work. The DfE stated that “It is important that schools are…given recognition for the progress made by all of their pupils”, and then implemented a system that ensures that any “below” pupil makes negative progress. Not fair, and a recipe for gaming.

A fair deal for junior schools

Measuring progress from a reception baseline is my preferred option, but if progress continues to be measured from KS1, then the measure needs to be robust, as well as refined enough to allow for a suitable number of prior attainment groups, and for junior school pupils to only be benchmarked against other junior school pupils.

Here are my orders. Now, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, “make it so”.

James Pembroke founded Sig+, an independent school data consultancy, after 10 years working with the Learning and Skills Council and local authorities www.sigplus.co.uk