>>[...] but they should encourage the underrepresented ethnicities to do better, [...] This policy change is exactly that - an attempt to encourage poorly perf

>>[...] but they should encourage the underrepresented ethnicities to do better, [...] This policy change is exactly that - an attempt to encourage poorly performing students to do better, where a large majority of poorly performing students also happen to be underrepresented ethnicities. The NYC Department of Education has and continues to try many actions to increase educational outcomes for their students overall -- de Blasio is trying to accelerate the process before he's out of office.