This paper describes the development of an experimental, alternative, graduate-level preservice teacher education program at Fordham University, the Internship Fellowship Program. The 15-month program includes an Instructional Training Laboratory (ITL) during the first summer, which supports the intern's acquisition of cognitive and performance skills necessary for effective teaching and learning; a yearlong, full-time teaching internship in an urban elementary school; a full-time mentor-teacher to support the intern; and objective classroom instruments to measure teaching competency. The program leads to a master of science degree in education and eligibility for state teacher certification. Development of the program involved Checkland's soft systems method of analysis, which conceptualized the existing system and proposed an alternative system. Research conducted at the end of the ITL indicates that the interns perceive themselves as having mastered basic teaching skills, particularly in the area of classroom management. More than 80 percent of the program graduates obtain jobs during their first year, and most are hired by the schools in which they complete their internships. Two appendixes include the course sequence for the Internship Fellowship Program and a design tree for instructional planning. (Contains 10 references.) (SM)