Hillsides Education Center (HEC) was established to meet the needs of children who required a special education environment in which to flourish. HEC is a private, non-public school for children with special needs that include emotional disturbance (ED), a learning disability (LD) like attention deficit disorder, or other health impairments (OHI).  

Teaching is accomplished in small group instruction and one-to-one tutorial programs. Each classroom accommodates up to 12 students supervised by a especial education tacher and two teaching assistants. Lessons are derived from California State Standards and then individually modified to help students prepare to return to public school.

We offer two curriculum tracks, academic and vocational, for our children and troubled teens to ensure successful experiences at our school. In addition, extracurricular activities provide students with opportunities to strengthen their leadership and social skills.

Our goals are to:
• Improve reading, writing, phonics, and math skills for children who are emotionally disturbed, developmentally delayed and/or have a learning disability;
• Enable students to attain or exceed their appropriate grade levels;
• Develop the student’s skills to be successful socially;
• Expand our students’ abilities to think logically, to deduct and to reason;
• Develop tools to decrease behavioral problems; and
• Expand our students’ abilities to identify and solve problems.

HEC is committed to reflective teaching, fostering an ethic of caring about each child’s uniqueness through Individualized Education Program (IEP). Teachers at HEC focus on basic skills and academic content as they relate to the students’ past experiences. Artistic problem solving is also encouraged in an effort to make the student’s educational experience more meaningful. Teachers are continually finding new ways to adapt the curriculum to relate to a student’s background, interests and needs.