Teachers and school leaders will be familiar with NAPLAN – as a census of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 it involves all educators. However, as part of the National Assessment Program, Australia also participates in two international assessments, PISA and TIMSS, which are, by design, light sample assessments and involve only a small proportion of schools. The students we are educating today will compete in a global market, and we have to be sure that the education we are providing them with is one that will provide them with a strong base, both in knowledge and skills and in the ability to apply those skills to real-world problems. In addition to the assessments, PISA and TIMSS collect a rich array of contextual information from students, teachers and schools – including background factors, and attitudes and beliefs about learning mathematics. What should be particularly interesting for educators is not just how well students perform on the international assessments, but how much the other information we gather can tell them about what Australian students can and can’t do.