This article draws upon the author's research and the school effectiveness literature, notably including the seminal yet still applicable reviews of Levine and Lezotte (1990), and Sammons, Hillman and Mortimore (1995), to develop eight common requisites for school improvement, namely, adopting a student-centred orientation, emphasising teaching and learning, promoting distributed leadership, monitoring student progress, developing skills for promoting change, connecting with the 'community', embedding professional development, and sustaining improvement. Each of these broad imperatives is then appraised to create a more detailed and contemporary profile of the school initiatives and teacher qualities and/or skills necessary for school improvement.