This paper explores the growing importance of measures of progress in judgements of schools' effectiveness in England, with a focus on the role of the early years (settings for children aged 2-5) in providing data for these measures. Qualitative data from a research project involving three diverse school-based and pre-compulsory early years settings are used to explore how teachers and school leaders prioritise the collection of data in their every-day practice, in order to show how children make continual progress. The need for a narrative of progress as children move up through the primary school, an "Ofsted story" for the school inspection service, is discussed alongside recent policy which requires a "baseline" assessment at age four. We argue that there is a reification of progress in schools and early years settings, and that this changes the status of early years within the sector.