A top magnet school just outside Washington, D.C., has experienced a sharp decline in academic achievement following the adoption of new admissions criteria aimed at promoting racial equity, according to a new report.

The updated standards at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, long heralded as one of America’s top public schools, were introduced in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s death, as school leaders sought to address the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic students.

The changes to the admissions process involved replacing standardized tests with a holistic evaluation system, which rewards students based on factors like attendance at underrepresented middle schools and eligibility for free lunch — criteria that critics argue serve as racial proxies.

Previously, the student body at the Alexandria, Virginia, school was predominantly Asian-American, a demographic that school leaders felt did not reflect the racial composition of the surrounding community. Following the implementation of the new admissions metrics, the proportion of Asian students admitted dropped to 54 percent from 73 percent. Critics, including parents of Asian students, cite this decline as evidence of discrimination.

Alongside these demographic shifts, the school has seen a notable decrease in academic performance. Once ranked as the top public high school in the nation, the school has fallen to the 14th spot over the past four years.

The decline is also evident in the number of students qualifying as semifinalists for the prestigious National Merit Scholarship. In 2020, the school boasted 157 semifinalists, a number that remained consistent until recently. For the current senior class — admitted under the new race-conscious admissions rules — the number of semifinalists plummeted to 81.

“Since TJ stopped admitting students based on their individual academic abilities, it’s absolutely no surprise that TJ is no longer the academic powerhouse it once was,” the lead attorney in the case against the school district, Erin Wilcox, said, according to UnHerd.