A model of educational policy development is reported that is democratic without being egalitarian. It provides a process for gathering information from all interested groups in a school district to construct a policy that is uniquely suited to that district. It was designed to help a small committee construct a teacher evaluation policy for a school district with 2,800 students. The steps of the model incorporate the beliefs of every sector of the school community without ignoring the experience and beliefs of others. The development process began with a committee of teachers and administrators who made plans for a committee of stakeholders that would include teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community representatives. This committee then asked questions of teachers, administrators, parents, and students about existing policies and, for groups other than teachers, their opinions of good teaching. Six areas of teacher competence were expanded to 14 standards. A scoring rubric incorporating the standards was developed and refined, and the final policy was presented to the school board for approval. In its second year, the policy appears to have met its goals for inclusion of the local vision of teaching and research on teacher development and evaluation. The development approach illustrated that not all groups have the same areas of knowledge, but all have a legitimate interest and some expertise to contribute to policy development. An appendix presents criteria for useful feedback developed through teacher response, the parent survey, and a questionnaire for students. (Contains 4 references.) (SLD)