School Mission & History / Overview

Accreditation
Echo Horizon School is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. We are also a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs.

I've always said that having deaf and hard of hearing students is as beneficial to the hearing children as it is to the non-hearing -- they learn the value of inclusiveness and being considerate of each other. This is integrated into the social fabric of the classroom. It's all just taken for granted.
- Avon Leekley, Kindergarten Teacher (Retired)

A unique mission that benefits all

The mission of Echo Horizon School and its Echo Center is to educate children in a collaborative environment that is academically challenging and developmentally appropriate. We actively promote mutual respect, individual responsibility and ethical action. The Echo Horizon graduate is an inquisitive and critical thinker who brings creativity, kindness and self-reliance to the lifelong journey of learning.

Carol Proctor Landsberg and her late husband Kent H. Landsberg created what is now Echo Horizon School/Echo Center to fulfill their vision of an institution where children with hearing loss could be mainstreamed with hearing children in a manner that benefited both.

The founders looked to Dr. Madeline Hunter and her principles of effective instruction to create the best possible academic environment. In l985, Paula Dashiell, an accomplished educator who had trained with Dr. Hunter as a teacher at UES, was brought in as Head of School and has guided Echo Horizon School through its growth into one of the premier private educational institutions in Southern California. A leader in the oral auditory field, Echo Center Head Vicki Ishida has been with the school for more than 20 years. Under her guidance, the Center has developed into one of the finest auditory oral deaf education programs in the United States.

Our founders determined that a student body composed of 90% hearing students and 10% deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students provided an optimal balance for an educational environment that would benefit both groups of children. Using this ratio, the number of DHH children is small enough for them to easily mainstream, yet their number is large enough for no child to feel alone. The success of the founding philosophy is reflected in the lessons of acceptance and inclusiveness learned by both groups of Echo Horizon School students.