In "Safe, Supportive and Successful Schools: Step by Step" David Osher, Kevin Dwyer and Stephanie Jackson that states that research and practice suggest that sustainable school improvement requires at least 14 ingredients:

• Address the needs of your school and community. Take into account school and community characteristics throughout the change process.
• Be strategic and comprehensive. Develop a strategic plan for addressing the needs of all children through universal prevention, early intervention, and individualized intensive intervention.
• Be systemic. Effective change aligns improvements in key areas simultaneously: curriculum, teaching and teacher training, school culture and environment, and student support systems.
• Don't do it alone. Serving all students requires interagency collaboration.
• Involve the entire community. Include all stakeholders-students, families, and policymakers-in program development, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Understand and manage change. Change is not easy. A well-trained team, representative of and accessible to all stakeholders and skilled in cooperative problem solving, should manage change.
• Build a learning organization. School staff should have the time and support to discuss, plan, and reflect on new approaches.
• Value and address diversity. Programs and practices should be sensitive to and respectful of the culturally and linguistically diverse students, families and staff who are part of the school and community.
• Assess and address strengths and challenges. Build on existing resources and leverage what is working in your school and community. Some interventions, however, may not work or may not have sufficient power to realize your goals. Others may even have harmful effects. Improve or eliminate ineffective programs; identify and eliminate harmful programs and practices.
• Employ evidence-based programs and practices. Select evidence-based programs and practices that fit your school. Be an intelligent consumer. Make sure the programs and practices have produced results under conditions that suggest that they will work in your own school and community.
• Build capacity. Develop and fund organizational capacity, including necessary staff and training to ensure that programs can be implemented effectively.
• Employ data. Collect and assess data on an ongoing basis and use the data to refine programs and procedures. Whenever possible, employ or refine existing data sources.
• Evaluate outcomes. Evaluate programs to ensure that they produce sufficiently positive outcomes.
• Focus on the long haul. Change is neither easy nor cheap. Don't focus on symbolic actions and quick fixes. Develop an organizational capacity to maintain and sustain school improvement.

Source: Osher, D, Dwyer, K. Jackson, S. (2004). "Safe, Supportive and Successful Schools Step by Step." Sopris West Educational Services.