Abstract: Migrant children in current study refer to those who have left their registered places of residence to a city with their parents who are mainly from rural areas and come to urban centers looking for economic opportunities. Because of the household registration system and the education resource allocation system, migrant children encountered difficulties in access to school in cities. Using data drawn from the Beijing Migrant Children Compulsory Education Survey (BMCCES), this study examines the impacts of potential risk factors on migrant children school performance. With a sample of 983 children and their parents, this study uses reading, math achievement and self-reported children's expectations for their future education attainment to test a child's academic performance. Separate multiple regression models of academic performance were tested for all sampled children, and for migrant children in particular, to assess the extent to which individual, family, and parental factors shape child school performance between migrant children and non-migrant children. First of all, the current study indicated that migrant status did not necessarily contribute to poor school performance. There was no significant disparity on math achievement between migrant children and non-migrant children in current study. For reading achievement, the negative effect of being migrants washed off once controlling for child characteristics. Another important finding of the current study is that education expectation matters. Both parent and child education expectations were positively related to school performance, including reading and math grades. Last, but not least important, finding of the current study is the relations between parent education expectation, child education expectation and the child's school performance were different for migrant children. The significance of the present study is twofold. First, this study is the first empirical research focusing on academic performance in the study of migrant child education, a dimension that has been empirically absent in previous Chinese literature. Second, this study examines the implication of the educational theoretical framework, which is based on research published in English, in the circumstance of Chinese society. Key words: Migrant children, school performance, reading, math, education expectations, China