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The Journal of Educational Administration enters its twentieth year of publication with this edition. In this anniversary statement the Editor briefly examines the original “mission” of the Journal and commits it to a continuation of its international orientation. The history of the Journal encompasses a period of great development in the study of educational administration. In many respects the Journal has been uniquely situated to monitor this exciting growth. It has witnessed the establishment of international organizations and programs, new associations, training programs, and journals. Some of the criticisms of the Journal are considered and commitments for the future are made.

The intention is to review the literature dealing with the role and status of research in preparation programmes for educational administrators, and to generate alternative ways to incorporate research into the programmes. To guide the reviews and to generate alternatives, a framework consisting of three categories is used – a historical perspective, the knowledge base and faculty orientations. A primary conclusion is that educational administration must not only improve the quality and increase the quantity of research, but programmes must also be changed to include research in central and coherent ways.

Using a structured observation technique, five secondary principals from school districts in a large metropolitan area of Korea were observed for 27 days. Extensive interviews were conducted to help explain the meanings of the observed managerial behaviours and to compare the reported behaviours to those of their American counterparts. Korean principals spent more time at their desks, on trips away from their schools and on personal matters than American principals and less time in meetings, monitoring, touring and personal exchanges. Both groups allocate their time according to their stated priorities of programme development, personnel issues and school management. However, neither actually spend as much time on programme development as they believe they do.

A societal and educational analysis established the perspective that Australian teachers are working in a context of societal change, with concomitant pressures on their traditional approaches and methods. Further education was seen as a major method of assisting teachers to meet these pressures, and the study addressed the problem of developing policies to induce significant numbers of teachers to undertake further education.

With this issue The Journal of Educational Administration commences its twenty‐fifth year of publication. Just five years ago, on the occasion of its twentieth year of publication, I reviewed the role of the J.E.A. in a special editorial — “Twenty Years A Journal: An Anniversary Statement.” Since that time there have been several developments in the publication of the J.E.A. that are perhaps worthy of comment on this our silver jubilee.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that organizational structure behavior cannot be explained by considering the organization as a separate entity. Three types of evidence are offered to support this viewpoint. Additionally, a case is made for open systems theory development to explain behavior in schools and to stimulate the theory movement in Educational Administration.

The theoretical and practical significance of the concept of subordinate loyalty to immediate superior is developed, and then, an empirical exploration of administration behavior that best predicts subordinate loyalty to elementary and secondary principals is undertaken. Data were collected from the principals and faculties in eighty public schools. Those characteristics of principal behavior accounting for the greatest explanation of loyalty are Thrust, Consideration, Initiating Structure, and Nonauthoritarianism; however, somewhat contrasting profiles emerge in predicting teacher loyalty in elementary and secondary schools. While Initiating Structure of the principal has high value in the secondary schools, it is Consideration, not Initiating Structure, which is most salient in elementary schools.