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With increase requirements and a more clinical approach for administrator internships in principal preparation programs, universities are taking a look at their internships and how they are implemented. The purpose of this paper is to propose a structure and framework incorporating promising practices from recent literature and explores how to successfully implement new standards and state requirements. Additionally, a framework for practice is included as a foundation for a clinical internship program that applies theory and promising practices.

Internships are a critical aspect of the principal preparation program and are crucial to preparing students to fulfill their future leadership roles. This brief reviewed the related literature, which revealed the lack of quality in various educational leadership programs and posited that the internship is an essential element to principal preparation. Key considerations to successful internships, and why they are necessary to overall candidate preparation were also presented. Additionally, a sample program was described that included aspects of both performance and accountability and served as a framework for new and revised internships.

Although the internship experience is but one part of a larger curricular sequence, it has a central role in the preparation of future school administrators. School administrator preparation programs have an obligation to allow participants to fully experience the breadth and depth of issues and environments that they will encounter. A structure and framework is needed that incorporates promising practices from recent literature, and explores how to successfully implement new standards and state requirements for a clinical internship program applying current theory and promising practices.

Creating and maintaining effective internship experiences is an ever-evolving process that requires dedicated faculty and resources. Learning through internships is a central element of future principal candidates’ overall success. Authentic practice and experience in real school settings ensures that future educational leaders receive the best preparation that universities and faculty can provide.

Collegiate internships play an important role in the development of professionals. They provide students the opportunity to experience real world expectations embedded within actual vocational environments under the support of their collegiate faculty. Although there are a number of common reasons why internships are utilized in each academic area, the requirements for the experiences are substantially different across disciplines and level of coursework. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the commonalities and differences that exist for internships across collegiate academic disciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and identify their salience for programs from an interdisciplinary perspective.

For this conceptual piece, the authors took an introspective qualitative look at both programs and compared and contrasted them based on internally available documentation and information. Although this was theoretical in nature, the authors utilized materials available for certification and accreditation purposes for each of their programs. Multiple data sources were stakeholder interviews and conversations, site visits/observations, and site artifacts/documents.

The authors found a great deal of both similarity and dissimilarity across programs, and these findings were utilized as grounds for programmatic introspection, evaluation, accreditation, and certification to better understand how stakeholder voice is involved in the processes. Table I provides an overview of items identified, and will serve as a guide for the remainder of this paper.

An inclusive awareness will consider the voices of the student, university, employer, and other stakeholders, including co-workers and employers that currently do not offer internships. Given the rising cost of tuition and the wealth of competition in the market, the pressure is on for institutions of higher education to up the ante when it comes to providing quality experiential learning opportunities. The next step should focus on defining expectations and tailoring each internship program, and for that to be accomplished, all stakeholders must be “all in.”