‘Consider, for example, educators’ and educational researchers’ concerns with assimilation, civilization, vocational training, IQ, poverty, cultural difference, remedial education, school readiness, achievement gaps, accountability, and standardization – all of these conversations were and still are intimately connected to race and racism regardless of whether we name them as such’ (Brayboy, Castagno, & Maughan, 2007, p. 159). The roll-out of national testing in Australia, and the subsequent yearly discussions of educational achievements, has contributed to reigniting concerns regarding the presence and effects of race in education. In part, this is because comparisons based on the results of these tests, for example, between Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian students (Ford, 2013), or LBOTE (language background other than English) and non-LBOTE students (Creagh, 2014), invite critique regarding the pervasive and pernicious ongoing impact of racism on the engagement and experiences of learners in schools (Lingard, Creagh, & Vass, 2012; Sarra, 2011; Walton, Priest, & Paradies, 2013). The growing impact and pressure associated with standardised and often ‘high-stakes’ testing, coupled with heightened concern about race and racism in education, is also a significant issue in settings such as the USA and UK, as indicated in the quote that opens this editorial.