When the Clark County, Nevada, school board pledged to avoid micromanaging the district and focus on the big picture of improving student achievement, the move was a radical shift. For board members accustomed to dealing with what one described as "convoluted" policies that filled several 6-inch-thick books, the streamlined approach to governance was a welcome change. In formally adopting Policy Governance--a popular set of principles for effective boards conceived by the Atlanta-based governance guru John Carver--the board spawned a countermovement to restore a more activist approach. A growing number of school boards--concerned that infighting, lack of focus, and a propensity for micromanagement are limiting their effectiveness--are turning to Policy Governance for similar answers. Simply put, school boards using Policy Governance monitor how well the district's superintendent or chief executive officer meets the broadly written "ends" the board has defined as district goals. The board does not prescribe the particulars of how the superintendent should reach them. Boards instead step back and evaluate what kind of job the top administrator is doing. One of the main problems is that boards often pick and choose elements from Policy Governance in a moment of crisis, though the model calls for unified implementation.