School staffing shortages are afflicting schools across the country. As a result, teachers are faced with larger class sizes, and they are being tasked with additional responsibilities. Ineffective leadership practices have compounded the issue resulting in teachers who are unsatisfied with their jobs. Consequently, many unsatisfied teachers are quitting teaching, or at the very least considering quitting earlier than anticipated. Likewise, fewer undergraduate students are pursuing education as a career. Based on these circumstances a quantitative study was designed to determine if a relationship between teacher job satisfaction and servant leader characteristics of principals exists. To ascertain this relationship, a job satisfaction survey coupled with a servant leadership questionnaire was administered to K-12 teachers. Teachers were asked to complete the job satisfaction survey based on their personal job satisfaction and the servant leadership questionnaire based on the perceived servant leader characteristics of their principal. The findings from these surveys showed a significant relationship between teachers who perceived their principals as having servant leader characteristics and their job satisfaction scores. In other words, teachers who perceived their principals as having servant leader characteristics were more satisfied. Based on the results of this study, focusing on the leadership practices of the building principal can shift teachers' feelings surrounding job satisfaction. Therefore, developers of principal preparation programs are positioned to develop a professional development curriculum that focuses on servant leadership practices. These practices have the capacity to shape future leaders in order to have an immediate impact on teacher job satisfaction. [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.]