Traditional Professional Development (PD) models neglect to prepare educators for the new and innumerable challenges that accompany post-COVID-19 classrooms. The problem addressed was that since returning to the classroom post-COVID-19, in-service and experienced secondary special education teachers are demonstrating dysregulated responses to academic and environmental challenges as a result of inadequate professional development approaches. The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to investigate the attitudes and perspectives of in-service and experienced secondary special education teachers on current professional development practices. I further purposed to investigate how mentorship influenced in-service and experienced secondary special education teachers' responses within the academic environment. The investigation was conducted through the theoretical frameworks of adult learning theory and social constructivism theory, and its contribution to practice spotlighted mentorship as a transformative professional development approach. Fourteen experienced in-service and experienced secondary special education teachers from Southeastern Colorado Public School district served as the study's target population. Data was collected through in-person interviews, focus groups, and critical reflection questionnaires, and the three sources were hand-coded, themed, and analyzed to answer the research questions posed. Key findings signified a lack of relevant PD sources and advocated for innovative development methods to move practice along. Mentorship was introduced as a new approach for educator skill development. Practice implications included a necessity for differentiated professional development accompanied by recommendations that included a) modeling and performance feedback opportunities, b) reverence for acquired expertise, and c) educator application of learning to be measured by observable changes in educator responses to the academic environment and its stressors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]