Chapter 16: Interning in a State Legislature
Published: Nov 5, 2021
Contributor: Richard Clucas
License: CC BY NC ND 4.0 license – Allows redistribution but no additions or revisions to content. Forbids commercial use.
Students have been interning in state legislatures since at least the mid-1950s, yet few studies of state legislative internship programs have been conducted. To help bridge the gap, this chapter provides a brief history of these programs and reviews the limited research on best teaching practices related to them. Analysis of a 2021 survey of 74 state legislative intern coordinators is presented, and the survey data, which include responses to open- and closed-ended questions, provide insight into how these programs are taught as well as informed perspectives about what the coordinators believe are key components of successful state legislative internship.
Keywords: internships, interns, legislative politics, state legislatures, state legislative internship program, state government