Since the spring, Florida school districts have adopted resolutions calling on state lawmakers to dial back the pressure that schools must place on students with high-stakes testing. By July, even Gov. Rick Scott had said that perhaps Florida tests too much. 

Nikolai Vitti, Duval County's new superintendent, isn't waiting for Tallahassee to fix the problem. Vitti — who knows quite a bit about state education accountability as the former FDOE deputy chancellor of school improvement —  has unilaterally dumped dozens of tests from the school calendar, the Florida Times-Union reports.

They simply take too much learning time away from children, he said in a memo to staff. His action does not, of course, affect FCAT testing.

But it did instantly cheer staff members as they prepared for Thanksgiving.

“This is a huge step in the right direction,” Terrie Brady, president of Duval Teachers United, told the Times-Union.

Are any other districts watching?