The Department of Education is considering requiring all eighth-graders to take the entrance exam for the city’s specialized high schools in hopes of boosting the number of blacks and Hispanics admitted.

Ursulina Ramirez, chief of staff to the schools chancellor, said at a City Council hearing Thursday that making all students take the exams is “one of the options” being weighed, as well as factoring in additional criteria for acceptance, such as grade- point average, attendance and student portfolios.

Critics say kids who don’t want to attend the elite schools should not be required to take the exams