Background Vision affects daily activities, but of particular importance is the impact upon the learning process. Many studies have been conducted to establish the relationship between vision problems and academic performance. The results are varied, however, and suggest additional research is needed with particular care given to study design. Methods This study included 1,103 year-2 school children enrolled in 7 public schools in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. There were an equal proportion of males (50.6%) and females (49.4%). The testing battery was designed to assess visual acuity, ocular muscle balance, visual analysis skills, visual-spatial skills, and visual-motor integration skills. Results Children with average and above-average achievement showed a different visual performance profile from those children with low academic achievement. They had a statistically significant better pass rate in physical aspects (visual acuity), physiological aspects (ocular motor balance), and perceptual aspects (visual-motor integration/visual-spatial and visual-analysis skills). Conclusion Children with low academic achievement are more likely to exhibit problems in visual acuity, ocular motor balance, visual-motor integration and most all components of visual analysis skills. This finding supports the concept that visual performance is key to learning and therefore of chief concern as to school achievement.