STARS is an ever-evolving system which provides colleges and universities with a tool to track their progress toward sustainability and provides the public the opportunity to see what is happening in higher education with regard to sustainability. Built into STARS is a process for ongoing development so that the program is current and best meets the needs of STARS Participants and the public. Seventy Technical Advisors provide input and make recommendations for continuous improvement. These Technical Advisors, professionals from higher education institutions, businesses, and non-profit organizations, are organized into nineteen work groups, each work group having responsibility for one of the STARS subcategories, such as Curriculum, Energy, and Investment. These work groups provide input to the STARS staff and make recommendations for the STARS Steering Committee’s consideration and approval.

There are three levels of periodic changes in the STARS development process: Administrative Updates, Minor Substantive Changes, and Major Revisions. Administrative Updates are made no more often than quarterly and include changes such as making clarifications to credits and correcting typographical errors. Minor Substantive Changes are made no more often than once a year, and these may include changes to criteria and reporting fields which do not change the scoring of credits. STARS 1.1 was released in February 2011 and is the first set of Minor Substantive Changes made to STARS. Major Revisions are made no more often than once every two years, and these may include adding or removing credits, restructuring STARS, and changing scoring of credits. The STARS staff and Technical Advisors are currently developing STARS 2.0, which will be the first set of Major Revisions and will be released sometime after mid-2012.

Some of the priorities the STARS Steering Committee has identified for the development of STARS 2.0 include redefining “institutional boundary,” credit reallocation and point weighting, and making the Education and Research category more robust. The STARS technical development policy provides for a public comment period for Major Revisions. A public comment period on proposed changes for STARS 2.0 is planned for fall 2011.