North Star Governance is a democratic governance model for school boards. It’s a written framework for how a board sets direction for its district, makes decisions, holds the district accountable to real goals, and focuses its work on students.
The model is built around four categories of board goals, set on two cycles: Student Success and Programmatic goals, shaped by real community engagement and reset every three to five years, and District Relations and Internal goals, set through the board’s own reflection and reset every year or two. It includes adoptable policy language, a full community engagement process with example surveys, resolution templates, governance procedures, and evaluation tools, including a Superintendent evaluation addendum, all laid out across an annual calendar showing how it fits together.
This packet is meant to be adapted to each school district’s individual needs and is detailed enough that your board can choose to adopt it without hiring an external consultant or organization.
The model is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. You’re free to use it, adapt it, and build on it, including for commercial purposes, at no cost, as long as you credit Uriah Ward and keep whatever you build on top of it open under the same terms.
If you have questions about this model, or you’re trying to figure out whether it’s a fit for your board, please reach out!