This study describes the total speech communication coursework required within New York State secondary level teacher programs in 1968-69 with a focus on three questions: (1) What speech-communication coursework is required within secondary level teacher preparation programs; (2) What discussion leadership principles are required; and (3) Does the required speech coursework meet the criteria of selected experts? Research procedure included: (1) forming criteria from a judging sample of ten "most knowledgeable" speech educators, (2) collecting data through survey of pertinent curricular catalogs, and (3) compiling and statistically analyzing the data for presentation. Findings shwoed that most of the 73 surveyed teacher training institutions and their respective secondary school training programs require minimal training in speech communication coursework--an overall mean hourly requirement of 2.16 hours per surveyed training program vs. the speech educators' criterion of 6.75 required hours. In the area of discussion leadership coursework, the speech educator's criterion provided for a minimum of 2.5 semester hours required training; only two colleges were able to meet this criterion. It is concluded that additional speech communication training is justified for surveyed secondary education training programs. (Author/CK)