A rural lower socioeconomic school district in South Carolina was the focal area for this research study. Data was disaggregated by using the Title I elementary schools' SC assessments and data collected from the participants. The data analysis attempted to determine the leadership behaviors used by principals based on the overall perceptions of school administrators and teachers. This quantitative research analyzed the effectiveness of leadership practices on Title I schools' performances. The research included leadership behavior perceptions based on overall perceptions, ethnicity, gender, years of experience, college degree earned, and years in the same school. This research compared leadership behaviors of high performing Title I Elementary Schools and low performing Title I Elementary Schools. The leadership practices were measured by Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Inventory (2003). The inventory focused on leadership behaviors in the following five core practices: Modeling the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The study made connections between the effectiveness of principals' leadership practices as perceived by teachers on school performances in high and low Title I elementary schools and the correlations between ethnicity, gender, years of experience of the leaders, college degree earned, and years in the same school. The findings in this study revealed there were no significant differences between the effectiveness of principals' leadership practices by teachers in High Performing and Low Performing Title I Schools in South Carolina based on teacher perceptions as related to overall perceptions, ethnicity, gender, years of experience, college degree earned, and years in the same school. High and Low performing schools rated the leadership practices similarly. There was not a significant difference among ethnicities. African American teachers and White teachers did not have different teacher perspectives in regard to the principals' leadership practices in high and low performing schools. Gender did not impact how teachers perceived their leaders' leadership practices in high and low performing schools. Females and males in high and low performing schools rated leadership behaviors the same. As pertaining to years of experience amongst teachers in high and low forming schools, teachers' perceived leadership practices were no different whether they had less than one year of teaching experience or over 20 years of teaching experience. There was no significant difference regarding years of experience. The type of degree earned in high and low performing schools did not affect teachers' perceptions of leadership practices. The years in the same school did not waiver teachers' perceptions on leadership practices in high and low performing schools. High and low performing school teachers with minimum years in the school rated the leadership behaviors the same as teachers with longevity in the schools. The findings from this research study validated the researcher's thoughts that teachers' influential factors would not significantly impact leadership practices in high and low performing schools. The data analysis of this study may help direct principals in their daily leadership practices. [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.]