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Part One of this initial report of a longitudinal study of the organizational socialization of educational administrators offered an analysis of data ordered by the GASing construct and the two related concepts of anticipatory socialization and interpersonal orientation. The data to be analyzed here are ordered using the concepts of situational adjustment and organizational space. A theoretical model interrelating major individual and organizational variables influencing the socialization of administrators during the candidacy portion of their career then builds upon the hypotheses proposed in Part One and Part Two. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the implications these data portend for both training programs and public school systems, calling special attention to the uniqueness of the long‐term serial character of the socialization of educators as an occupational group.

This two‐part paper reports the initial results of a longitudinal study of the organizational socialization of educational administrators. The data analyzed in Part One are ordered using the construct, GASing (Getting the Attention of Superiors), and the related concepts of anticipatory socialization and interpersonal orientation. Data analyzed in Part Two are ordered using the concepts of situational adjustment and organizational space. A theoretical model proposing the interrelation of major individual and organizational socialization variables concludes this initial report. In Part One the claim is made that socialization through the life‐cycle may be conceived as a series of learned interpersonal relationships through which individuals build up a repertoire of interpersonal responses which condition new‐role learning. Attention is fixed on the interrelatedness of both interindividual differences in candidate behavior dispositions and contextual properties of the situations in which candidates found themselves during this period of their career. Anticipatory socialization and the GASing construct direct attention to processes occurring between the time a teacher first becomes positively oriented toward the administrative group and when he/she actually gains membership in that group, i.e. the period of candidacy. Interpersonal orientation directs attention to behavioral predispositions among candidates relative to their stance toward the situation of candidacy itself. Hypotheses evolving out of an analysis of these data are proposed for testing.

The genesis of the moral leadership concept in educational administration and examples of studies exploring this idea during the 1979‐2003 period are discussed. The author recommends more contextually sensitive descriptive studies with a focus on the social relations among school leaders and others, giving particular attention, in a phenomenological sense, to the meanings, perspectives, and espoused purposes of school leaders’ actions, social relationships, and interpersonal orientations.

The paper shares observations on each article in this volume, concluding that educational administration has continued to evolve in the application of organizational theory to schools and universities. A very important but recent focus of several studies reviewed is the connections they illustrate between organizational characteristics and processes and teaching and learning. Suggestions for future inquiry conclude this article.

Articles are summarized briefly and the author offers a brief critical commentary on each.

Each of the studies is an excellent example of the power and utility of organizational theory and its applicability to educational organizations. There is a real sense of theoretical pluralism represented in this collection, and a focus on studying real problems of administrative and organizational practice.

While the papers discussed illustrate advances in thinking since the early days of the “theory movement”, there remains the critical task of theory development. All articles are a reminder of the importance and utility of theory, and the advantage of validated theory as a guide to practice. However, only a few are a reminder of the need for scholars to focus on theory development and, more specifically, of the need for theory development addressing real problems of educational organization and administrative practice. Such studies are vital to the future of organizational theory as a field of inquiry.

This report examines the function of experience in the role of vice‐principal as preparation for the school principalship, proposing that a dysfunctional socialization outcome of this career entry pattern is the development of a role orientation that emphasizes managing rather than leading the school. The authors differentiate these two dimensions of the administrative role by suggesting that the managerial function emphasizes organizational stability and maintenance of the day‐to‐day operation, and that the leadership function emphasizes improvements in instructional and organizational arrangements facilitating teaching and learning. While a balance in functions is the preferred orientation implicit in theoretical as well as prescriptive models of the principalship, and principals themselves espouse the desirability of an instructional leadership emphasis, most empirical studies of the principalship indicate a substantial skewing of emphasis in the direction of managerial activities. The paper offers an empirically grounded theoretical explanation of this occurrence. Based on data from the studies of the enculturation process and the work activities of vice‐principals, and guided by socialization theory, the report discusses role‐learning implications of experience in the vice‐principalship role and concludes with seven propositions for further study.

This study was built upon earlier research by Ronald Blood, William Greenfield Jr. and Harry F. Wolcott and explored the informal socialisation of first, second, and third year Ohio Catholic elementary school principals. It identified the significant others and socialisation stages of 25 selected socialisation content items for the position. The items were related to four dimensions of their roles: i.e. personnel relations, administration/ management, curriculum/supervision and religious leadership. The investigation also reaffirmed the development of an “administrative perspective”.

For nearly a century, research on economic hardship has demonstrated its negative effects on family relations. However, with few exceptions, this work has focused on the consequences for marital quality and parenting behaviors in early stages of the life course. In contrast, in the present study, we examine how financial distress among adult children in midlife affects their relationships with their mothers in their 70s and early 80s. Specifically, we used quantitative and qualitative data collected from 387 mothers in 2001–2002 and 2008–2010 regarding their adult children’s recent financial problems and their levels of tension and closeness felt toward each child. Multilevel analyses revealed that both children’s financial problems within the past year and earlier problems that had been resolved predicted mothers’ reports of tension in their relationships with their adult children. Contrary to expectations, neither measure of children’s financial problems predicted mothers’ reports of closeness to their children. Examination of the qualitative data suggested that mothers attributed their children’s financial failures to personal failures of the adult children. In addition, the qualitative data revealed clear gender differences. Mothers disproportionately attributed their sons’ financial problems to lack of career success, whereas mothers were much more likely to express disappointment in daughters with financial problems because of marital dissolutions.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

Today an estimated 500,000 personal computers have been purchased by Americans who use them at home and in a variety of small business applications. (Note: We define a personal computer as a small, relatively inexpensive, microprocessor‐based device which can be taken out of its box, plugged in and begin working immediately, as opposed to large computers which must be permanently installed, and/or require professional programming. We exclude microprocessor‐based devices whose only function is limited to the playback of packaged games.) Many market research services believe that personal computer sales will continue to grow rapidly, perhaps as fast as a 50 percent annual growth rate for the next several years. The impact of this new interactive information technology coming into the possession of perhaps millions of people can only be guessed at at this early juncture. To us, as librarians, one of the more perceivable results of the growing wave of interest in personal computers has been the proliferation of literature addressed to the personal computer user.