This study examines principal monitoring and beginning teachers' experiences through interviews. Findings indicate socializing into an ineffective school will either promulgate ineffective practices or will produce an internal conflict. At schools where principals were "all about the kids," teachers demonstrated loyalty and voiced intentions to remain in teaching due to the culture where first teaching experiences took place. The quality of the instructional leader's monitoring not only socializes the beginner into the school organization but influences the teacher's intent to stay.