Could the time be coming to end time-consuming, high-stakes testing? It may be closer than you think, if Florida's Governor has his say this Legislative Session.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran hosted a roundtable at a middle school in Niceville Monday, hailing "progress monitoring" and "moving away from the FSA."

Last week, DeSantis called for legislation to replace the FSA, or Florida Standards Assessment, with progress monitoring for the 2022-23 school year. He called it one of his top priorities for the upcoming 2022 Legislative Session. On Monday, he reiterated his commitment to that reform.

"This will be a big priority for us ... something that we're really, really serious about," DeSantis pledged.

Progress monitoring, said DeSantis, allows the use of more "modern tools" to "measure progress" and "be able to remediate when things aren't going well."

The goal: "More streamlined periodic assessments."

"Teachers want to teach and not just be test preparation proctors," DeSantis said.

DeSantis said this could help students who are "ahead of the curve" also, so they're not "running in place" essentially waiting for their classmates to catch up.

In his remarks, Corcoran noted COVID-19-driven disruptions helped drive the planning.

"We've had conversations over the last two years, especially when the pandemic hit ... it was in that time we realized what we're mostly shutting down was testing for the FSA," Corcoran said.

"This progress monitoring is really showing us what we need to see," Corcoran added, allowing the state to be "smarter, faster, more efficient."

"We have perpetual D and F schools ... Last year, when we had that infusion of dollars (from the federal government), we had 55 schools," Corcoran said, "all of them come out of turnaround during that most difficult academic year."

Progress monitoring made it possible for beleaguered schools to turn around, Corcoran said.

Okaloosa County Superintendent Marcus Chambers said progress monitoring allows the district to guide instruction and drive professional development.

"To be able to have progress monitoring is a gamechanger," Chambers said, adding that it allows for "adjustments in real time."

Parents had their plaudits too. Catherine Card, a middle school parent, said one of her daughters was able to progress to advanced math because a teacher noticed her aptitude.

"Now she is a 7th grader sitting in an 8th grade class," Card said.

DeSantis' proposal envisions new progress tests, known as the Florida Assessments of Student Thinking or F.A.S.T. The tests would be customizable to each student, with shorter grading times and quicker and more readily available feedback.

Expect legislation to be fast tracked.

Teachers unions, including the Florida Education Association, support the bill, which feels like an election year victory for a Governor who will be on the ballot.