Two observations point to the need for improvement of teacher internship programs in speech communication: (1) the supply of education graduates is far greater than the demand, and (2) in many universities and colleges, communication departments are struggling for survival. Scholars of communication must provide the most competent leadership available for the field by offering the best training for teachers, who are in a position to influence, elicit excitement, and recruit for the discipline. The problems of teaching internship programs in communication include curricula aimed toward student achievement of specific competencies, the differing criteria used for selecting supervising teachers, and the wide variance in the amount and distribution of classroom teaching time. Also, because many schools do not employ full time speech teachers, interns are sometimes required to spend time with instructors in two different schools. Some if not all of these problems could be significantly reduced or eliminated by strengthening the speech curriculum, attempting a cooperative arrangement between comunication and education departments, and placing student teachers in the best possible internship situations. (HTH)