Mentorship for Doctor of Education Candidates: Exploring Sustainability, Networking, and Expected Outcomes within a Mentoring Program

Abstract

Candidates who pursue a Doctor of Education (EdD) often have a unique set of challenges as these candidates typically hold professional leadership roles in schools, districts, or organizations while taking courses and completing a dissertation. EdD candidates may benefit from participating in a mentoring relationship to gain social, emotional, academic, and career readiness support. In this paper, we explore perceptions of an EdD mentoring program related to sustainability, networking, and expected outcomes of their current mentoring opportunities. Perceptions of mentors’ and mentees’ self-efficacy, readiness, and progress are also studied in order to better support candidates in completing the doctoral program.