This quantitative case study examined teacher perceptions within one rural, public East Tennessee school district of principal leadership styles based upon Kouzes and Posner's five domains: challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart, inspire a shared vision, and model the way to determine if a dominate domain existed within teacher perception of the principal's leadership style. Principals who understand the effectiveness and impact that different leadership styles have upon the school environment, specifically teacher perceptions, generally identify with a particular style allowing the creation of a positive educational environment (Rowland, 2008). Teacher understanding of principals' leadership styles increased self-awareness and job satisfaction the teacher achieved. Effectively decreasing the chances of teacher burnout and job-related stress (Meador, 2016).

The purpose of this study was to examine how the participants perceived their principal's transformational and transactional leadership style and whether differences existed in their perceptions based on the demographic variables of age, gender, experience, educational attainment and ethnicity. Transformational leaders were considered influential, change agents who motivated teachers to work collaboratively as a team to achieve defined goals. On the other hand, transactional leaders developed impersonal relationships and motivated teachers according to their personal self-interest. They focused on social and economic exchanges, using contingent rewards to reinforce positive behaviors and administered punishment to reform negative behaviors. One hundred and thirteen participants from six elementary schools participated in this study. The Multi-Leadership Questionnaire was used to collect data. Cronbach alpha was used to establish internal reliability consistency of the instrument. The data were analyzed using mean scores, percentages, chi-square, t-test and ANOVA. The research findings indicated that perception scores at both school levels were higher for transformational leadership than transactional leadership. According to the mean score interpretation (Table 2) and the participants' mean scores, 92.9 % of participants perceived their principal as fairly often a transformational leader and 7.1% of participants perceived their principal as frequently a transformational leader. Ironically, 100% of participants perceived their principal as sometimes a transactional leader. The research findings further indicated that overall, teachers at both levels perceived their principal as fairly often a transformational leader and sometimes a transactional leader. Based on the demographic findings, an ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in teachers' perceptions of their principal's transformational leadership style based on years of experience. Participants with more years of experience perceived their principal with significantly higher mean scores than those with fewer years of experience. Recommendations include: (a) conducting further research to determine the impact that principals' leadership style have on student performance from a national perspective, (b) conducting a Longitudinal Research study to determine the impact that leadership styles have on student performance, and (c) exploring leadership styles extensively to identify the leadership traits exhibited by both public and private elementary school principals.

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.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of principal leadership styles on teacher morale. Two high schools in Pennsylvania participated in the study. A researcher-designed online survey with Likert-style rating scale, and open-ended questions were utilized to collect information. In addition, ten individual interviews were used to triangulate the data. The results of the study indicated that there was a relationship between certain principal practices and their ability to positively impact teacher morale. Participants reported the most influential principals were excellent communicators, trustworthy, knowledgeable in education matters, led by example, inspired their faculty and were highly visible throughout the day. These results imply that a principal's daily leadership practices play a vital role in positively impacting teacher morale at the high school level.

This quantitative study addressed the idea that a middle school principal could possibly impact teacher effectiveness in the classroom through the relationship of the teacher- perceived leadership style of the principal to teacher job satisfaction and efficacy. The sample consisted of 142 certified teachers from 8 public middle schools in an East Tennessee school district. Teachers completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, (Bass & Avolio, 2004) and the Job Satisfaction Survey, (Spector, 1994). Findings from this study suggest that the middle school teachers' perceptions of their principal's leadership did not have a statistically significant relationship to teacher job satisfaction. A new insight from this study suggests that principals should find ways to lead beyond teacher perceptions to address the needs of teachers in order to promote and encourage higher levels of teacher job satisfaction. Furthermore, findings from this study suggest that the middle school teachers' perceptions of their principal's leadership style had a statistically significant relationship to teacher efficacy. Findings from the exploratory question at the end of the surveys further validated this study by indicating teachers perceived their need for principal leadership to help them become more effective in the classroom by incorporating elements of both transformational and transactional leadership. This research may assist in developing leadership style training for principals desiring to indirectly influence academic achievement by influencing teacher job satisfaction and efficacy within their schools.

This study examined the relationship between principal leadership style and climate as perceived by teachers. Eleven elementary schools and 275 teachers participated in this study. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) assessed teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership styles. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire - Revised Elementary (OCDQ-RE) obtained climate data, measured as Open, Closed, Disengaged, and Engaged. Demographic data consisted of five categories: (a) Gender, (b) Years teaching, (c) Years with current principal, (d) Level of Education, and (e) SES and Star rating of each school. An analysis, utilizing Pearson's r correlations, indicated relationships existed between the five LPI and the six OCDQ-RE subscales for principal and teacher behavior. When teachers perceived exemplary principal behaviors, their perception of Collegial and Supportive climate indicators were very high and Disengagement low. Conversely, when teachers perceived low principal behaviors, their perceptions of Collegiality were low with high Restrictive climate indicators and high Disengagement. An analysis, utilizing MANOVA, indicated teachers who spent zero to two years with the principal or spent greater than six years with the principal perceived their principals in a similar manner. Teachers who spent three to five years with the principal scored the principal lower. An analysis of the SES and Star rating of the school indicated teachers from high SES schools with satisfactory achievement scored their principals higher than teachers from high SES schools with high achievement on four LPI subscales and one OCDQ-RE subscale. Findings support the proposition for continued research in the area of school climate and principal leadership.