ISCA Student Standards
What are the ISCA Student Standards?
The ISCA Student Standards are internationally recognized content standards for students that guide schools and counseling programs by outlining the specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that students should be able to demonstrate as a result of an effective program.
They are the most comprehensive and precisely defined set of standards in SEL. These standards, aligned with the CASEL framework, provide specific learning outcomes to the unique contexts of international schools.
To get a copy, simply visit the ISCA Publications Library, set up an account and explore all the available tools.
The standards encompass four domains:
- Social-Emotional
- Global Perspective and
Identity Development - Academic
- Career
Access a downloadable version of the Developing Life Skills to support your counseling practice and student learning initiatives.
The standards are designed to be adopted school-wide and integrated within and across the curriculum. While school counselors play a vital role in the development of these skills and competencies, it is essential to recognize that SEL skills are best developed through a comprehensive approach.
The most effective approach is a school-wide one, where everyone—from teachers and counselors to school leaders and caregivers—has different roles but a shared responsibility for fostering these skills across disciplines. Therefore, we believe that delivering SEL is a whole-school effort and a collective responsibility, ensuring that every student benefits from a consistent and supportive learning environment.
The infographic below highlights the four main domains of the ISCA Student Standards and the specific standards within each domain. It illustrates how these components collectively support the development of essential life skills.
To get a copy, simply visit the ISCA Publications Library, set up an account and explore all the available tools.
Review By Dr. Emily Meadows, LGBTQ+ Consultant
As an international school counselor for many years, I leaned on the ISCA Student Standards for sound guidance in planning my programming. Now, as an LGBTQ+ Consultant for International schools, I am proud to have been involved in updating these standards to integrate competencies that promote equity, reduce harm, and improve access for all students.
New to this edition, my personal favorites include a section on Identity Development, as well as one on Advocacy & Equity. Most importantly, however, a lens of safety, equity, and belonging has been applied throughout all of the standards rather than siloed to one particular competency, so you will see this influence across the board.
These standards are incredibly valuable for counselors looking for practical entry points to cultivate learning environments built on community safety, support, and affirmation.
Why are the ISCA Student Standards important?
What is new about the updated ISCA Student Standards?
The ISCA Student Standards help schools to prioritize the content that is taught and assessed within and across the curriculum. These standards are the foundation for classroom lessons, small groups, and activities within a school program.
Students learn best in environments that are validating, respectful, supportive, inclusive, and safe. Implementing the ISCA Student Standards through the lens of equity and belonging is essential to improving outcomes for all students and creating a safe school culture free of bias and oppression.
Consistent standards that are adopted by international schools around the world promote equity and provide teachers, parents, and students with clear expectations to ensure that all students have the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary to succeed in life upon graduation from high school, regardless of where they received their Nursery–Grade 12 education.
In May 2022, ISCA revised the ISCA Student Standards to achieve the following goals:
- More clearly articulate the dispositions, knowledge and skills that prepare students for post-secondary education, future careers, and global citizenship
- Promote equity, reduce harm and improve access for all students
- Recognize identity development as part of the Global Perspective Domain, now called Global Perspective and Identity Development Domain
- Reflect the ideas of the internationally recognized and evidence-based Social Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
ISCA SEL Toolkit
What’s your roadmap for schoolwide SEL? The ISCA SEL Toolkit gives international schools a flexible, field-tested framework to implement Social-Emotional Learning and Life Skills with clarity and confidence. Whether you’re launching SEL for the first time or scaling your impact, this toolkit equips you with the tools, structure, and vision to make it sustainable.
Review By Dr. Douglas W. Ota, Safe Passage Across Networks (SPAN) Founder
Doing a good job as an international school counselor used to be open to a tremendous amount of interpretation. When the well-being of young people is involved, we shouldn’t be guessing. But counselors are often passionate professionals with innovative approaches, so they shouldn’t be straightjacketed, either.
The ISCA standards take the guesswork out of “where Rome is” while allowing the user to determine how best to get there. They do so across what could be considered all the domains of human functioning—including the one which we at SPAN regard as the foundation, particularly in international schools with turnover: the ability to navigate life’s transitions.
Students who gain the requisite life skills should be able to demonstrate they have done so. The ISCA standards show educators what to look for in their students. But each professional—and school—is free to determine how to effect such important changes in their populations and contexts.
ISCA Student Standards Learning Progression
What do these skills look like at different grade levels? View the student standards learning progression, which defines what to “look for “ or the learning outcomes across different grade bands
Review By Kate Garlick, Unifrog
The ISCA student standards are an incredibly useful framework to help teachers, counselors and other education professionals design and deliver effective, engaging and relevant SEL education.
At Unifrog, aligning our PSHE and SEL Lesson Pack to the standards has helped us to:
- Ensure our lessons are suitable for a range of different international contexts
- Promote core values such as respect for others, critical thinking, self-reflection and effective decision-making
- Support students to become informed, responsible and culturally competent global citizens
International School Counseling Model
The ISCA International Model provides a framework for encouraging and promoting best practices among international school counselors. Overall, the Model is our profession’s manual on what, why and how to implement a school counseling program.
