The focus of this qualitative case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the differences in school leadership responsibilities, preparation, and training of traditional public school principals and charter school principals and their effect on principal retention. The study included five principals from traditional public schools and five principals from charter schools in North Carolina. This study had four main findings: (a) Traditional public school principals have more student discipline responsibilities, while charter school principals engage in more instructional leadership; (b) All principals spent most of each workday responding in a managerial capacity to emerging stakeholder needs or, in other words, engaging in reactive managerial tasks. However, principals generally preferred the instructional leader role over the reactive managerial role; (c) Principal preparation among traditional public school principals is facilitated by active guidance of district administrators for professional growth, while principal preparation for charter school principals is self-initiated; and (d) Many principals would consider leaving their position if it began to negatively impact their families. All the findings in this study were supported by the literature, though more research is needed to fully understand the findings of this study. [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.]