Education is a standards-driven business where accountability is at the forefront of its practices and processes for evaluating schools. The role of today's school leaders has changed tremendously in this new era of accountability. The research and findings presented in this paper will explain the evolution that has taken place in the duties of school administrators and the educational reform movements addressing the adequate education of pupils in high-poverty schools. This study analyzed the influence of school leaders' instructional leadership behaviors and practices on student achievement. In particular, the study investigated the administrators' influence in the following leadership dimensions: defining the school mission, managing the instructional plan, and establishing the school learning climate program. The population for this study consisted of 27 principals and assistant principals, serving in Title I, PK-6 elementary schools in Alabama. Further, the study utilized the experimental design to examine a sample of school leaders based on the criteria used to identify the high performing, high-poverty learning organizations. Results showed that there were no substantial disputes between school leaders' perceptions of leadership behaviors in relation to their gender, the number of years at their current school, or their total years of experience in school leadership. However, the study found that a relationship exists among the school leaders across the tested independent variables. Based on the descriptive statistical analyses conducted, the following functions of instructional leadership were perceived as prevalent among the school leaders: framing the school goals, supervising and evaluating the curriculum, and providing professional development. The findings in this study justify the continued investigation of the impact of instructional leadership behaviors on student achievement in high-poverty schools. Explicitly, further research should examine the specific behaviors of principals who have successfully transformed high-poverty school organizations into high-performing learning environments on a border spectrum within the state of Alabama is needed. [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.]