A problem of longstanding interest is whether principal leadership behaviors can have an impact on student achievement. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there was a relationship between principal leadership behaviors and student achievement in a sample of urban elementary schools in Maryland. Did teachers observe more desirable leadership behaviors in principals of high-performing schools than in principals of low-performing schools? Desirable principal leadership behaviors have been reported to have a positive impact on student achievement (Styron & Nyman, 2008; Anderson, 2008). How teachers perceive their principal's behaviors has an effect on teacher performance, which ultimately affects student achievement (O'Donnell & White, 2005).

Survey items from four subscales of the established and well-researched Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) were completed by 94 teachers from 15 elementary schools. The teachers rated their principals in the following four leadership areas: (1) persuasiveness, (2) initiation of structure, (3) tolerance, and (4) freedom and consideration. The teachers' responses to the survey items were weighted, and a total score on each of the four subscales was computed. The schools were classified into two groups using a ranking of school percentages of students scoring in the proficient and advanced categories: relatively high-performing schools and relatively low-performing schools.

Statistical results did not show a significant difference between principals from high-performing and low-performing schools, although the subscale totals for high-performing school principals were always greater than the subtotals for low-performing schools. However, 36 of the 40 item-level averages were higher for the high-performing schools than for the low-performing schools. In spite of the lack of statistical significance (i.e., evidence that the differences were more than random variation in the data), the review of literature affirms that teacher perceptions are important indicators of leadership practices that affect school climate and effective schools.

KEY TERMS. Principal Leadership, Student Achievement, Leadership Behavior, Persuasiveness, Initiation of Structure, Tolerance, Freedom and Consideration