Migrant children often have difficulty adapting in the host country's classrooms, where the teaching methods, curriculum and language are unfamiliar. An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study in 23 countries showed that first-generation immigrant students have much lower scores than do local students, second-generation immigrant students do slightly better.' The variations across host countries are important, which may indicate that policies to integrate migrant students affect these students' outcomes. Migrant children may be experiencing school for the first time in the host country at an age when their peers have already been in school.