Decrease honors courses to increase Advanced Placement for minorities

Fairfax, VA had decreased its honors courses in high school in order to push minorities into enrolling in the more difficult Advanced Placement courses. That seems counter productive to me. What about minority and non-minority students who aren't ready for Advanced Placement? Wasn't this policy hurting them in order to reach some imagined administrative goal for a small minority of blacks and Latinos (higher percentage in AP) which probably gets the superintendent a prize? Apparently parents felt as I do.

"Honors-level courses are a middle track between standard-level and college-level Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. The school system began phasing out some honors courses several years ago to encourage students — especially low-income, black and Latino students — to choose more rigorous courses.

That appears to have made a difference. The number of students taking AP and IB tests has risen somewhat, and so has the proportion of black and Latino test-takers.

But eliminating honors courses provoked criticism from some parents, who argued that it forced students to decide between standard-level courses that are too easy and college-level courses that are overly demanding."

The school board voted 11-1 to add back in five additional honors courses in the fall. Don't you just hate it when kids are the lab animals in social engineering theories?
Washington Post story