This is a case study of the implementation of 8 VAC 20-542-530(2), a state policy governing the internship component of Virginia principal preparation programs. The purpose of the study was to examine the implementation of the policy and its effectiveness for changing professional practice in Virginia. States hold the responsibility for establishing licensure, certification, and recertification requirements for school leaders and also for developing guiding policies and procedures that inform leadership preparation. The expectation is that educational leadership programs will, in turn, structure their offerings in a way that ensures that their graduates are prepared to meet the state's requirements. "Getting principals trained and ready to perform at high levels is the essential function of university educational leadership programs...By improving the quality of...internship experiences, universities...can increase the ability of new school leaders to address real school problems before...their first principalship" (Gray, Fry, Bottoms & O'Neill, 2007, p. 11). According to 8 VAC 20-542-530(2), participants in principal preparation programs in Virginia must: Complete a minimum of 320 clock hours of a deliberately structured and supervised internship that provides exposure to multiple sites (elementary, middle, high, central office, agency) with diverse student populations...The internship shall be focused on learning for all students and shall occur in a public school or accredited nonpublic school. The kinds of data collected consisted of detailed descriptions of situations, events, people, and interactions; direct quotations from people about their experiences, attitudes, beliefs and thoughts; and excerpts or entire passages from documents, correspondence and records. The data were collected as open-ended narrative without attempting to fit peoples' experiences into predetermined, standardized categories such as the response choices that comprise typical questionnaires or surveys. After conducting interviews with those key players who could purposefully inform this study, and reviewing documents associated with new regulations, my findings reveal that the implementation of the policy failed to substantially change the internship experience in Virginia in four categories: (1) internship site selection; (2) mentor selection; (3) mentor training; and (4) internship design. Until state policy reaches into each of these critical arenas, the internship in Virginia will remain one relatively driven by the intern and not the licensing institution. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]