Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of the internship as a central ingredient of effective preservice programs. Intended for those who are involved in the preparation of school administrators, the text emphasizes that preservice programs must ensure that interns will learn the skills that will make them effective leaders. The book is designed to address the issues and practice of internships so as to provide a meaningful model for prospective educational leaders. The text is divided into 10 chapters. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 relate to organizing and designing a learning encounter that focuses on a realistic set of goals. They provide information that will help the university, internship site (local school system), and intern to form a bond, thus enabling the partners to function as a minicohort. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the specific traits that interns need to extend and enhance during their internship experience so that they may increase the quality of life in the organizations they will eventually lead. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 describe the specific roles that the university mentor, field mentor, and intern must enact during the internship, whereas the last two chapters provide examples of how to evaluate and assess the internship and the university experience. (Contains 10 references and an index.) (RJM)