Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi high schoolers could soon be using the same test to get out of high school and get into college.

Gov. Phil Bryant and others want to use the ACT college test as a high school exit exam for public school students, giving up the four subject tests in algebra I, English II, biology and U.S. history.

Mississippi would become the first state to set a minimum ACT score for students to graduate from high school.

The plan creates a pilot program giving the tests to high school juniors in 10 school districts, with an eye to expanding statewide.

Critics warn the ACT doesn't measure history knowledge and measures science reasoning, not biology knowledge. They want Mississippi to use math and English tests being developed by a multistate group.