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Implications for Future Study
School district personnel should consider how this model of preparing
undergraduate candidates will be implemented in their district along with the specific
supports outlined in this article for interns and mentors. Consideration of school
culture and climate is important to ensure whether the school is a fit for the intern
and whether the placement is appropriate for a pre-first-year teacher completing an
undergraduate degree. Evidence from this study showed induction support would
help interns learn how to navigate school responsibilities and develop professionally.
University personnel should consider collaborating closely with school districts
to implement the Bullard program. Considering the model type used by the district
and the types of supports provided is important before agreeing to partner with the
district. Where concerns for a particular model arise, conversations about the support
that university personnel provide should consider a university member’s role in the
process. Another implication for university personnel will likely be requests by
districts to reschedule when courses are offered to candidates. Candidates in their
last year of the program are working toward program completion and therefore
may lack a semester’s worth of coursework. Restructuring coursework to an online,
evening, or weekend format can address this.

Limitations
The findings of this study were based on interns enrolled in elementary, middle
grades, and mathematics education programs. Although Georgia identified special
education as a high-need field (Georgia Department of Education, 2019), no candidates
were identified as completing an internship in special
education. The number of interns in this study also
The traditional route of limits the work’s generalizability.
This study was conducted during the first year
student teaching in Georgia of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020–2021, limiting

is changing because of the how I collected data. Interactions with participants
in person, where they might be more comfortable
national teacher shortage. than in the virtual setting, could strengthen this
study. Interns and mentors were learning how to
navigate teaching during a pandemic, which could
have influenced their mindset around the intern
as teacher model. The intern as teacher model in
Georgia existed before the pandemic; therefore, I cannot attribute the pandemic to
the hiring of the interns in this study.
Dr. Bullard’s model intended for candidates to complete a yearlong internship
with a district. Participants in this study included candidates completing their final
semester or year in an internship. Further investigation after the academic year
concluded would be valuable. Research involving interns who completed the entire
year in the model may influence participants’ responses to the interview questions.

Conclusions
The traditional route of student teaching in Georgia is changing because of
the national teacher shortage. Districts are creatively hiring undergraduate teacher
candidates as the teachers of record through a model known as intern as teacher.
The overarching question from the original work of this study was to consider what
constituted success for the intern as teacher participating in the model. Axelrod and

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