At key stage 4, there is now one floor standard measure: Progress 8.

Yes, there are other headline measures - Attainment 8 scores, the percentage achieving A*-Cs in English and maths GCSEs, the proportion achieving the English Baccalaureate - but as far as the floor standard is concerned, it all comes down to a single figure: -0.5. Essentially, this means that if pupils on average achieve half a grade lower across eight subjects than pupils with similar prior attainment nationally, then the school is considered below floor.

All the complexities of GCSE data are boiled down to one number - and a number representing progress to boot. People will no doubt have concerns about the mechanics of Progress 8, but this is surely a refreshing step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, at KS2 we continue with four floor measures: an attainment component (65 per cent achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths), and three “sufficient” progress thresholds that kick in if the school is below the attainment floor. The progress thresholds for reading, writing and maths are -5, -7 and -5 respectively, and the school must match or exceed all of them if they are below the attainment component.

Falling short of just one means the school is below floor. This is a tough departure from previous years when a school with low attainment would only be below floor if it failed to meet all three expected progress medians.

Major disparity

So, we now have a major disparity in the way the two phases are held to account. A secondary’s fate rests mainly on its progress measure, while for primaries it’s still predominantly about attainment. And this disparity looks set to continue in the new “coasting” measure, with secondary standards focusing on Progress 8 over time, while primary schools will be hit with a mountainous 85 per cent attainment threshold, as well as three progress measures.

This year, with just 53 per cent of pupils nationally achieving expected standards in reading, writing and maths at KS2 (way below the 65 per cent threshold) the floor became a farce. How can we have a situation where the nation falls so far below its own minimum expectation that it seems more like an aspirational target?

Consequently, the progress thresholds have had to be set low enough to ensure that we only end up with the promised 6 per cent of primary schools below floor, and the complexity has left many struggling to work out where they stand.

Considering the stakes, surely it’s time that primary floor standards were brought in line with secondaries? We need to scrap the attainment component, remove the flawed writing progress measure and replace the three separate progress thresholds with a single measure of average progress across reading and maths.

Then we would have a fairer floor standard that schools could actually have some faith in.

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