In public schools, the principal's role is of paramount importance in influencing teachers to excel and to keep their job satisfaction high. The self-efficacy of leaders is an important characteristic of leadership, but this issue has not been extensively explored in school principals. Using internet-based questionnaires, this study obtained scores on the self-report Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale, including areas of management, instructional, and moral leadership, of 50 elementary, middle, and high school principals in Arizona. These scores were compared to their teachers' perceptions of their leadership (N = 1403 across the 50 schools), using the Leadership Behavior Survey, including subscales on human relations, trust/decision making, instructional leadership, control, and conflict. Teachers reported intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction on the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. As hypothesized, teacher job satisfaction was strongly related to perceptions of their principal's leadership in all areas (total satisfaction ©7 overall perception: r = .645, p

Abstract.

This study examined the impact of principal leadership characteristics and behaviors on teacher's perceptions of self and collective efficacy at three career stages. Forty-six teachers from six school buildings within a single southeastern Pennsylvania school district participated in the study. Multiple data collection instruments were utilized to provide qualitative data on teacher perceptions of personal and collective efficacy relative to their perceptions of their principal's leadership and their career stage. The researcher found that schools in which teachers had positive perceptions of their principal also exhibited stronger collective efficacy perceptions. The research also revealed that teachers' personal efficacy perceptions were sometimes situational and impacted directly through feedback from their principals and indirectly through their principals' leadership behaviors.

This study addresses the challenge principals face in retaining highly qualified and effective teachers in their schools. Although efforts to recruit new teachers have proven successful, teachers are leaving education at alarming rates, especially in the first four years of their careers. The purpose of this study was to identify what school principals can do to increase teachers' job satisfaction and retention. To do so, 12 veteran teachers from four schools were interviewed from February to April 2009. The participants answered questions concerning their levels of job satisfaction, their perceptions of their principals' leadership styles, and their reasons for continuing to teach. The data revealed that principals can increase teachers' job satisfaction and retention rates by encouraging positive and respectful relationships among teachers and their students and among the faculty, staff, and administration; treating teachers as professionals and providing them with opportunities for professional growth; providing teachers with positive feedback; being accessible and listening to teachers; establishing high expectations for student achievement and teacher performance; and supporting the efforts of teachers. This data will increase principals' awareness about what leadership styles and practices can increase the job satisfaction of their teachers and help them retain highly qualified and effective teachers in their schools.