Teacher retention is a persistent issue that impacts school improvement. The retention and attrition of both new and experienced teachers is quite challenging for administrators throughout school districts, particularly in large urban schools. While it is reasonable that some degree of teacher turnover in schools is inevitable, the exiting of large numbers over time negatively effects the overall capacity of the school to serve its students (The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003). Moreover, excessive teacher turnover can be costly. In keeping with the "No Child Left Behind Act" as well as the latest federal government effort, "Race to The Top", that school districts should recruit highly qualified teachers for every classroom, might find it more profitable in directing efforts to keeping quality teachers. Yet without a better understanding of the reasons why teachers leave programs, such as mentoring programs and retention bonuses, the aim stemmed to keep teachers may not be as effective as they could be at reducing retention rates. Workplace studies discovered that contextual factors such as leadership effectiveness is strongly associated with the reasons teachers leave schools and the profession, altogether. In support of these findings, this mixed methodological study contributed to the theoretical notion that principal's leadership practices create distinct working climates within schools and are highly predictive of teacher satisfaction and commitment. While these findings did not rule out other contextual factors, such as student characteristics, teacher empowerment, resources and professional development in retention decisions of teachers, they all pointed to aspects of school environments in accounting for these decisions. Future research should examine, more specifically aspects of leadership that teachers find most dissatisfying to the extent that it influenced their decision to remain or stay at the current school. [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://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]