​​St. John Vianney Regional School participates in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). These standardized tests are provided as a service to schools by the College of Education of the University of Iowa. The tests are administered to students in Kindergarten through 8th Grade.​

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First designed and administered in 1935, the ITBS are a tool to improve instruction. In a cooperative relationship, participating schools receive ITBS test materials, scoring and reporting services and consultation.​

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ITBS are written in levels. Each level consists of a series of tests administered in content sections with each section designed to measure specific skills. ITBS for students in Kindergarten through 2nd Grade gain information about classes and students for instructional planning, to supplement teacher observations regarding student abilities, and to establish a basis for subsequent annual evaluation of student progress.

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ITBS for students in 3rd through 8th Grade focus on Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Usage and Expression, Math Concepts and Estimation, Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation, Math Computation, Social Studies, Maps and Diagrams, Reference Materials, Word Analysis, and Listening. Like test levels for students in K-2nd, the ITBS also provides information for 3rd-8th Grade instructional development, curriculum and lesson planning.

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In addition, students in Grades 3, 5 and 7 will be administered the Congnitive Abilities Test (CogATs) in March. CogATs measure a students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic success in school: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. Although its primary goal is to assess students’ reasoning abilities, CogAT can also provide predicted achievement scores when administered with the Iowa Tests.