We've just passed the Fourth of July. Labor Day is still ahead. So school-age youngsters are enjoying their time off. Perhaps they are not thinking of school yet, but amid all their summer activities, there's good educational news: Many students in Hamilton County's schools have made good progress in the past academic year!

The state has released results of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. In grades three through eight, students reaching the proficient or advanced level in math rose 6.9 percent from a year earlier. The increase was 3.9 percent in reading, 4 percent in science and 1.5 percent in social studies.

Students, teachers and principals - and parents - deserve praise.

The numbers certainly do not mean all our students are out of the woods, of course. The majority unfortunately are still scoring at the basic or below-basic level in the crucial areas of math and reading.

But we congratulate our schoolchildren on the progress they have made. We hope they enjoy the remaining days of summer before they return to the excitement - and hard work - of their classes when school starts again.

School days should be happy days of accomplishment and learning.