Leveraging PhD Students to Support EdD Dissertation Writing
Sarah Capello
Abstract
Doctoral faculty have long advocated for writing support for doctoral candidates during the dissertation stage. However, schools of education often fail to provide organizational supports to assist struggling dissertators. EdD students in CPED institutions may need additional supports due to shorter time-to-degree programs and full-time work commitments. This paper reports how one PhD student in a CPED institution acted as a dissertation consultant for 35 EdD dissertators and successfully guided them through their dissertations. The author examines how her background in composition, experiences in education research, and willingness to address socio-emotional needs contributed to this success and argues that PhD students with similar backgrounds can take up dissertation consulting work in schools of education as an organizational support for EdD dissertators. The mutual benefits of engaging in this work are discussed as is the potential for school-university partnerships stemming from PhD-EdD student collaboration during doctoral study.