At the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, international agencies agreed on a common framework for school health – FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health). Despite the huge growth in the implementation of FRESH at country- and project-level, no internationally agreed guidance on how to monitor and evaluate school health programs exist. While many guidelines focus on particular school health issues, no guideline as yet has recommended indicators to assess progress in implementing FRESH or pooled all school health-related indicators into one document for the purposes of comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of school health. This document is based on the internationally agreed FRESH framework and draws on a wide range of school health-related M&E guidance from all health fields. This document is Part 1 of the broader FRESH M&E guidance to support governments and organizations in monitoring and evaluating school health programs. The eight Core Indicators presented in this Guidance document focus on national-level efforts to implement comprehensive school heath programs as defined in the international FRESH framework. Eight data collection tools are available separately to support the collection and compilation of these eight Core Indicators.