A study in New York City examined the 1987 entering Educational Options high school class, the first group admitted under a revised admissions policy designed to increase access to specialized high school programs for students whose academic performance might otherwise have precluded their admission. The revised admissions policy mandated that one-half of the students be assigned to the program randomly, and that one-half be selected by the Educational Options programs. It also indicated that 16% of the students to be admitted read below average and 16% read above average. Findings indicated that: (1) no significant differences existed between the two groups in the distribution of gender, average age, or percent entitled to bilingual/ESL services; (2) no significant differences were found in the percentage of students who left the public school system; (3) maintenance of slightly higher reading scores, mathematics achievement, and attendance level were found for the selected groups of students than for the random groups of students; (4) the selected groups earned about one credit hour more than the random groups after 1 year; and (5) of the Educational Options programs admitting 50 or more students, the majority deviated from the prescribed distribution of reading scores and over-represented low achievers. (Ten tables of data are included.) (RS)