According to recent research, "Very few teacher education programs in the United States offer a curriculum for online teaching, leaving districts, states, and virtual schools to train online teachers" (Dawley, Rice, & Hinck, 2010, p. 11). One of the difficulties of creating a training program for online educators is identifying their unique needs and determining how these needs may differ from the needs of educators within traditional schools. In this mixed-method study, data were gathered to identify the skills needed by online educators. Ten online teacher leaders were interviewed in order to identify specific skills that effective e-school teachers need. Based on their responses, a list of these specific skills was identified then developed into a 7-item survey, which subsequently was administered to 83 current online educators who worked in a virtual elementary school. Of the 83 teachers surveyed, 79 participated. The results suggest that while required skill sets might be similar between teachers in online classrooms and teachers in traditional classrooms, the order of importance varies. The results further suggest that online educators should possess skills that enable them to build relationships with the parents of the students they work with and at the same time advance their own technology-based skills. While traditional classroom teachers indicated that these same skills were important, they did not indicate that these skills were as high in importance as did the online educators. Previous researchers have identified in general the need for training online educators; however, this study explores the specific skills that should be the focus of such training programs. The results of this study allow universities, colleges, and school districts to better understand the skills online educators believe are required in order to be highly qualified in their respective fields. [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.]