About EduWise Collective

Dr. Karen Apgar is an educator, school psychologist, special education administrator, and professional development provider.  Her passion is sharing information and skills with other educators to improve their professional practice. Her goal is to improve educators' ability to provide much needed services to students with disabilities or mental health concerns.

See below for areas of expertise or view Dr. Apgar's CV

School Psychology: As a Nationally Certified School Psychologist for over 30 years, Dr. Apgar has broad experience and expertise in the practice and supervision of school psychological services. She is well-known and highly-regarded in the field of school psychology and provides professional development across the country.  In addition, she regularly guest lectures in school psychology graduate programs and has well as over a decade's experience as a volunteer leader in the National Association of School Psychologists.

Special Education:  As a school district Student Services Administrator, and supervisor of school psychologists, speech language pathologists, and 504 case-managers, Dr. Apgar has a strong knowledge of Special Education and processes and procedures, especially in the state of Oregon.  In addition, she is her district's Section 504 and ADA Coordinator. She has provided trainings and consultations to parents, staff, principals, and district-level leaders on the legal and regulatory requirements surrounding both Special Education and Section 504 and currently maintains her district's procedural manuals on these topics. In addition, Dr. Apgar investigates and responds to district-level complaints regarding IDEA or 504 implementation, and assists in the creation of district response documents for state-level complaints.

Crisis Response & Intervention:  As a long-time member of the Lane County (Oregon) Tragedy Response Network, Dr. Apgar has received and provided training on various aspects of responding to acute traumatic events that impact schools and districts.  She is one of her district's crisis response leads and has also responded to events in other Oregon school districts. She has been trained in multiple crisis models, including PREPaRE, QPR, Connect, ASIST, I Love You Guys, and other crisis-related systems. Using her knowledge of these systems, along with her experiences as a PREPaRE trainer and a crisis responder, she can create bespoke professional development for organizations, schools, and districts.

Writing & Editing:  As the author of her district's Special Education Procedural Manual and Section 504 Procedural Manual, Dr. Apgar has experience creating guidance documents that reduce "jargon" while still emphasizing legal and regulatory requirements.  She has contributed to published book chapters and professional articles and spent several years teaching graduate-level educational research and writing for the University of Portland.

Expert Witness:  As both a lead School Psychologist and a Student Services Administrator, Dr. Apgar has specialized in investigating and responding to district- and state-level complaints regarding Special Education or Section 504. She has provided testimony in Due Process hearings for her own district and for other districts, especially with respect to school psychology and special education practices and procedures.   

Referral Services:  If you have training needs in other aspects of public education, Dr. Apgar will be pleased to connect you with experts in those areas.