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used with stakeholders from school district administrators and university partners
in the study. Approximately half the participants provided documents. I found the
remaining publicly published documents online on district and university websites.
The documents included memoranda of understanding, intern commitment forms,
intern as teacher policies, student teaching handbooks, and mentor teacher
handbooks.

Data Analysis
Saldaña’s (2016) methods informed the data analysis process consisting of
(a) data organization, (b) analytic memos, (c) codifying and categorizing, and (d)
“themeing.” Two cycles of data analysis occurred along with memo writing and
code-mapping. I used open and in vivo coding to analyze the focus group data and
create first-cycle codes. After each focus group interview, I wrote analytic memos
to reflect on my coding processes and capture details appearing most relevant.
Open coding allowed the consideration of the theoretical framework of Axelrod and
Cohen (2000) and the initial exploratory questions generated for the interviews. I
considered the theoretical framework and exploratory questions for all data, which
allowed me to merge some initial codes into groups of similar characteristics. In vivo
coding was used to consider the participants’ exact words and capture processes and
behaviors in the model.
Axelrod and Cohen (2000) used the term harnessing complexity to show how
organizations can change “the structure of a system in order to increase some
measure of performance, and to do so by exploiting an understanding that the system
is complex . . . us[ing] our knowledge of complexity to do better” (p. 9). Therefore,
changing the research questions for this study to begin understanding what was
occurring at the school, university, and district levels was important. As I worked
through the focus group interview transcripts, additional questions became more
meaningful to explore. Thus, the research questions for this study evolved.
After completing the individual interviews with decision-makers at the P–12
district and university levels, I coded the individual interviews in the same process
used with focus groups. Code mapping helped to transition from the first to second
cycle coding. Focused coding allowed me to consider the codes used most and
determine which codes made the most analytical sense for the data (Saldaña, 2016).
MAXQDA (VERBI Software, 2019), a software package allowing qualitative
researchers to collect, transcribe, organize, analyze, visualize, and publish research,
was used to organize the codes and related categories.
Data analyses yielded two themes related to the research question: What
decisions must be considered when implementing the intern as teacher model in a
school district? These themes were transitioning from intern to teacher and success
of the program.

Results
District and university-level decision-makers described processes they used to
implement the intern as teacher model. However, their approaches to implementing
the model in school districts varied. District participants were excited to learn they
could hire interns completing a 4-year undergraduate degree program. Some system
decision-makers thought through the process and incorporated Dr. Bullard’s model,
while others implemented the program similarly to a traditional student teaching
experience. Key decisions found included:

12 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators