The purpose of this grounded theory qualitative study was to understand the impact of culturally responsive leadership on low-income minority middle school students and, if any, the impact that leadership has on students. This study utilized an expert panel to create a purposeful sample of low income/minority school leaders using the culturally proficient rubric (Graham & Lindsey, 2011). The schools identified by the expert panel were triangulated with the New York City School Quality Report for alignment. Six schools participated in the study; three schools identified as more culturally responsive, and three schools identified as less culturally responsive. A total of thirty-four educators across three boroughs in New York City middle schools participated in this study. Six administrators and twenty-nine teachers were interviewed. Interviews were conducted individually and as focus groups that consisted of four to five teachers in each group. Publicly available data was collected and analyzed. The responses from interviewees were analyzed to explore the impact of culturally responsive leadership on closing the achievement gap for low- income minority students in low income high minority schools. The findings from this study indicate that most participants believe culturally responsive school leaders have seven identified traits. The traits are: caring and nurturing; providing students with access to information and resources; the provision equity of opportunities, exposing students to enriching experiences, exhibiting moral courage, practicing social justice behaviors, and supporting the school community and aligning curricula to students' culture. When school leaders implement these traits, they positively impact the academic performance of students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]