The Mathews County School Board got a look at the benchmark test results for the first quarter of the 2013-2014 school year … and for the most part were very pleased with what they saw.

“This is the best benchmark I’ve ever seen … This is smoking hot,” school board member Bill Johnson said during Tuesday night’s meeting, which was held in the Mathews High School media center.

The quarterly assessment tests are used as a diagnostic tool to see what subject areas need increased attention and to help individual students who are struggling with one or more of the concepts being taught.

For the majority of the tests, the pass rate percentile among grade levels was in the high 80s to low 90s. The lowest score was in third grade English, which only had a passing rate of 65 percent.

Lee-Jackson Elementary School principal Drew Greve said that part of the problem for that low score may have to do with the test t...