Language knowledge, school track record and other aspects of a cultural and socioeconomic nature can condition the academic performance of pupils of immigrant origin. Hence the significance of measuring the difference between non-immigrant and immigrant students in their level of competencies in mathematics at the age of 15 years. This difference represents a good approximation of the degree of integration among immigrant students, and within this group, between first- and second-generation immigrants.

The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests define first-generation immigrant students as those not born in the country of assessment whose parents were also not born in the country of assessment, while second-generation immigrant students are those who were born in the country of assessment whose parents are both foreign-born.