Garden Grove Unified School District — Policy Analysis 2026
Grand Total
72 / 106
67.9%
Base Score
64 / 96
Extra Credit
8 / 10
Score by Section
| Section | Score | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culturally Responsive Training | 1 | 8 | Notes |
| Clear & Consistent Policies | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Restorative Justice Practices | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Bias Awareness & Mitigation | 2 | 8 | Notes |
| Culturally Relevant Curriculum | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Community Engagement & Collaboration | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Data Collection & Analysis | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Student Voice & Leadership | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Equitable Access to Support Services | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Continuous Evaluation & Improvement | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Extra Credit | 8 | 10 | Notes |
Suggestions to Improve the Score
Every item below its maximum, worst gap first, with the reviewer's own notes as the rationale.
Show suggestions (23)
- 1.1 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mandatory cultural competency training for all staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of mandatory, district-wide cultural competency training for all staff was found. GGUSD's Board Policy 7115 actually addresses limits on 'sensitivity training' as an instructional method rather than establishing staff cultural-competency training (https://policy.ggusd.us/7115), so it cannot be cited as supporting evidence.
- 1.2 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mentorship programs for culturally diverse staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). GGUSD has a robust Teacher Induction/mentoring program, but it is a general new-teacher mentorship system, not one specifically targeting culturally diverse staff; no evidence of a diversity-focused staff mentorship program was found.
- 1.4 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Regular feedback/measurement on training effectiveness — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found describing systematic feedback or effectiveness measurement for cultural-competency/equity training.
- 3.3 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Curriculum integrates conflict-resolution skills — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found showing that conflict-resolution skills are formally integrated into the academic curriculum district-wide (separate from restorative practices or SEL programming).
- 3.4 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Peer mediation program — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of a district-wide GGUSD peer mediation program was found in public sources.
- 4.1 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Implicit bias training for staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation of mandatory implicit bias training for GGUSD staff was found.
- 4.3 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Cultural competence checks in hiring — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). GGUSD has non-discrimination and equal-employment-opportunity board policies (BP 4010, 4011) governing hiring, but no evidence of an explicit cultural-competence screening/check built into the hiring process was found.
- 4.4 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Diverse perspectives & materials in curriculum — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No rating returned by the scoring model for this item.
- 5.3 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Community collaboration for supplemental resources — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No specific evidence was found of formal community collaborations to develop supplemental curriculum resources (distinct from family/social-service partnerships).
- 7.2 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Workshops on culturally responsive teaching — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No specific public documentation of workshops dedicated to culturally responsive teaching methodology was found beyond generic staff-development portal references.
- 10.3 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Students facilitate restorative processes — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public evidence was found that students formally facilitate restorative justice circles/conferences in GGUSD (as opposed to adult-led restorative processes).
- 1.3 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Culturally relevant PD resources in staff learning — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district's Dual Language Immersion and World Language programs note that they help build 'cultural awareness' and competence, and the Staff Development portal exists for ongoing PD, but no dedicated culturally-relevant PD catalog/series was confirmed district-wide.
- 2.2 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Regular policy reviews/updates — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district maintains an extensive, numbered board policy manual (policy.ggusd.us) covering discipline; policies appear periodically revised (e.g., BP 5141 updated 2021), but no explicit published review cycle/schedule was found.
- 2.3 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Staff training on consistent application — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). A District Discipline Committee (BP 5152/5152.1) exists, and PBIS is being implemented across schools with the district stating <cite index="87-9">"Across GGUSD, 56 schools are at various levels of PBIS implementation, with all schools on pace to adopt PBIS by the end of the 2024-2025 school year."</cite> This suggests movement toward consistent application but not yet fully universal/verified.
- 3.2 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Staff training in restorative practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district's Goal 2 site frames restorative practices as a strategic initiative including implementation guidance, implying staff training, but no specific mandatory training curriculum or completion data was found confirming district-wide staff training.
- 5.2 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Teacher PD on integrating diverse perspectives — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Staff supporting Dual Language/World Language programs receive related training, but no separate, general PD program on integrating diverse perspectives across all curricula/subjects was confirmed.
- 7.1 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Ongoing anti-bias/equity training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Multiple GGUSD schools participate in the ADL's anti-bias 'No Place for Hate' initiative — <cite index="197-1">"The 17 schools to earn the distinction as 'No Place for Hate Schools' include Cook, Patton, Simmons, and Stanley elementary schools as well as Alamitos, Bell, Fitz, Jordan, McGarvin, and Walton intermediate schools, and all seven of the district's comprehensive high schools"</ci…
- 7.3 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Equity topics in staff meetings/PD — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). GGUSD was recognized with a Golden Bell award where judges evaluate programs addressing <cite index="158-11">"areas such as equity and access, school climate and safety, technology"</cite>, and ASPIRE provides related staff PD, but broad-based integration of equity topics into all regular staff meetings was not separately confirmed.
- 7.4 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Participation in equity-focused conferences — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). GGUSD has a general board policy (1150) governing professional conference attendance and reimbursement, which could include equity-focused conferences, but no specific evidence of targeted equity-conference participation was found.
- 9.2 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Regular audits of discipline practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The existence of a standing District Discipline Committee (BP 5152/5152.1) suggests institutionalized review of discipline practices, but no published audit reports or schedule were found publicly.
- 10.4 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student-led peer education — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district references <cite index="114-10">"National Alliance on Mental Illness High School Clubs – Student-led clubs that promote mental health and awareness for mental illness"</cite> as one student-led peer education effort, though this appears limited to specific clubs/topics rather than a comprehensive program.
- EC4 [Extra Credit]: Seity Health digital wellness platform offering free daily wellness check-ins for both students and staff districtwide. — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Innovative use of technology for proactive wellness monitoring: <cite index="126-2,126-3">"The district has partnered with Seity Health to offer students and staff a free wellness platform that gives individuals an opportunity to learn more about themselves and participate in daily wellness check-ins."</cite>
- EC5 [Extra Credit]: Board of Education includes a formal Student Member position, giving students a direct voice at the highest district governance level. — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Structural inclusion of student voice in district governance beyond typical advisory councils, per GGUSD's board policy manual establishing a student board member position (https://policy.ggusd.us/).