This NYT article highlights that we still have a lot of work to do to close the achievement gap in NYC.  That said, children of ALL races have made steady progress under Bloomberg and Klein, which is great news:

Two years ago, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, testified before Congress about the city's impressive progress in closing the gulf in performance between minority and white children. The gains were historic, all but unheard of in recent decades.

When results from the 2010 tests, which state officials said presented a more accurate portrayal of students' abilities, were released last month, they came as a blow to the legacy of the mayor and the chancellor, as passing rates dropped by more than 25 percentage points on most tests. But the most painful part might well have been the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.

"The claims were based on some bad information," said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a research group that studies education policy. "On achievement, the story in New York City is of some modest progress, but not the miracle that the mayor and the chancellor would like to claim."

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Triumph Fades on Racial Gap in City Schools

By SHARON OTTERMAN and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Published: August 15, 2010

www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/16gap.html