Elizabeth J. Grace

Educational Consultant


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Advocacy & Consulting

Making sense of systems for over 20 years.

Grace Advocacy is a full service education consultant and disability advocate, here to help you navigate IEP or 504 or ADA accommodations processes, staying to coach you through maximum success in school, college, work, and life. We’ve been based in Chicagoland since 2008.

We also provide consultation and training to school and university faculties seeking easier integration of disability access and Universal Design for Learning into program design and course planning.

In addition, we create and deliver custom community outreach and public workshops for disability activist student groups and others interested in founding cultural centers, non-profits, or small businesses, and increasing momentum and cross-constituency support for local initiatives.

We’re proudly local and also love to travel. Clients include individuals, families, and school districts in the Chicago, New York, Manchester, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Portland areas, as well as organizations such as University of North Carolina at Asheville, Hirsch Academy, the Arc of Texas, Autism National Committee, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Our services are as varied as the people and groups who order them: we’re engaged by families for IEP advocacy and advice, educational consulting, transition planning, and college-readiness and success-plan coaching; by schools and universities for staff training and continuing education, behavior analysis and consulting; by disability organizations, universities, and student groups for keynotes, seminars, consultations, and workshops; by people looking for assistance or advocacy with employment or living situations, or who’d simply like a guide and/or advocate as they move through complicated systems to get what they need.

Sometimes you just want a hand making sense of it all.

Together, we'll get there.

Services

Advocacy

504 Planning and IEP Meetings in Schools, ADA/504 Worker Advocacy, Renter's Rights/Independent Living

Coaching

School Success, Academic Planning, College Choice, College Success, Study Skills, Social Mores, Career Planning, Job Search

Engagements

Faculty and Staff Training, Custom Designed Workshops, Online Learning, Continuing Education, Keynotes

Consulting

Curriculum and Program Design, Universal Design for Learning, Access, Analysis, Editing, Community Outreach, Research

Selected Writing

Experience

Employment Security Service Representative

2019 – Present
North Aurora, Illinois

Under general direction in a consolidated employment security office, performs the selected more complex employment services functions, job placement functions, unemployment insurance benefit entitlement resolutions and programmatic liaison to employers under provision of the UI Tax Act, Wagner-Peyser and JTPA, 7A and 7B legislation in compliance with federal and state statutory provisions, rules, regulations and requirements.

Serves as employer account executive; renders professional assistance for employment services and job development/recruitment programs for employers; explains labor laws, mandated programs, rights and responsibilities, and department services to employers.

Performs highly responsible analytical work adjudicating nonroutine complex claims and other claims issues for unemployment insurance benefits; renders determinations on claims eligibility; provides intensive selection, referral, placement, vocational counseling, training assessment and referral, and job development services to clients; solicits employers for job openings.

Provides liaison services between employer and department on employers' questions on unemployment insurance contributions, wage records, field audit and benefit programs; loads and extracts data from automated systems; maintains activity records and prepares reports; makes services efficiency assessments and recommendations.

Employment Security Program Representative

2018 – 2019
North Aurora, Illinois

Assesses and addresses client Unemployment Insurance and Wagner-Peyser service needs. Provides services related to the processing of claims for unemployment insurance benefits, including but not limited to interstate, military, other federal or trade readjustment; conducts benefit right interviews; provides orientation and clarifies eligibility factors; adjudicates minor benefit claim issues.

Through the use of the IL Labor Exchange system, matches candidates to job openings, provides referrals, placement and follow-up services on available job orders or training programs; processes and extracts data using automated data systems; refers clients with complex issues and service needs to the appropriate office or partner staff; establishes and maintains activity reports.

Assistant Professor

2008 – 2017
Chicago, Illinois

Recipient of the 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2015 Brantlinger Emerging Scholar Award, with primary course responsibilities in special education law and policy, assessment, research methods, disability studies, and mathematics pedagogy. Additional significant experience as Curriculum Designer, Academic Advisor, ADA/UDL/Disability Access Faculty Trainer, Departmental Assessment/Compliance Analyst, and Program Evaluator.

Instructor, Researcher

1998 – 2008
Santa Barbara, California

M.Ed. Faculty in Teacher Education Program for P-12 General and Special Education, Instructor in Department of Education, Teaching Assistant in Departments of Education, Communication, and Philosophy. Coordinator of Technology and Graduate Research Fellow in Center for Teaching for Social Justice, with primary responsibilities in program evaluation, teaching consultation, and data analysis.


Volunteer Experience

International Editorial Board, Curriculum Inquiry
Disability Advisory Commissioner, City of Naperville
Board of Directors, Society for Disability Studies
Co-Chair, Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group, American Educational Research Association
Statewide Leadership Team, Autism Technical Training and Assistance Program, Illinois State Board of Education




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