The city’s Department of Education is considering using new entrance exams for its gifted-and-talented programs, a top-ranking official said yesterday.

During a City Council hearing that touched on the lack of diversity in accelerated public-school programs, Deputy Commissioner Marc Sternberg said that the DOE was planning to seek two new tests to replace the current ones.

But after the hearing, officials said the search was part of a normal contract process, not an attempt to alter the programs’ racial and ethnic makeup.

The DOE is considering new tests not because of problems with the current vendor or “because we’re looking for a test that identifies qualities other than giftedness in young children,” said department spokesman David Cantor.