The Cuomo administration is addressing the state's failing schools through a letter to the Board of Regents chancellor.
The governor is asking chancellor Merryl Tisch to study an educational model used in Massachusetts that has lowered poor performance in schools.
Cuomo has adopted Tisch's previous recommendation and proposed a law that the failing schools become community schools with other wraparound services.
According to officials there are 178 failing schools in New York, 77 of those have had poor performance for a decade.
They say 250,000 students are affected by this problem, most of them are minorities and from low-income families.