School environments impact student performance, teacher motivation, and teacher retention. As such, exploring the role of principals in shaping a school environment can be useful for understanding the reasons for poor outcomes of persistently low-performing schools, low teacher motivation, and high teacher attrition. Additionally, through this exploration effective leadership approaches could be identified. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of principals in creating a positive school environment through the perspectives of teachers. The theoretical framework for this study was open systems theory (Hoy & Miskel, 2012) and entailed conducting semistructured interviews with four middle school teachers who all worked at the same failing school. The findings supported the importance of principals' leadership practices for creating and fostering a positive school environment. Additionally, findings showed that principals and their leadership practices had a direct impact on student achievement, teacher motivation, and teacher retention, which all have implications for the school environment. From a principal's perspective, this study can help education leaders improve their understanding of a school as an open system and the significance of creating and fostering a positive school environment. Further research can focus on uncovering the moderating variables shaping the impact of different principal-related variables on a school environment, such as cultural factors or educational policies. [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/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]