Developmental mentoring: tailoring a mentoring program to the changing needs of scholar-practitioner EdD students

ABSTRACT Scholar-practitioner doctoral students face a unique set of challenges and developmental milestones throughout their doctoral programs, calling for specialized support. Mentoring is one such support that provides academic, career, and psychosocial support to students throughout their doctoral journey. In this study, we implemented an innovative mentoring pathways program for second-year Doctorate of Education (EdD) students, consisting of monthly presentations and discussions led by mentors who are graduates of the EdD program. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with mentees. After analyzing the data, four themes were discovered: 1) the format of mentoring support is important to scholar-practitioner mentees, 2) mentees desire mentoring tailored to their developmental experiences, 3) mentees appreciate support from mentors and faculty, and 4) mentoring is an opportunity for mentees to network and connect. Recommendations are given on tailoring mentoring programs to the developmental needs of scholar-practitioner doctoral students.