erms of the perspectives of path-goal theory in south wollo zone secondary schools. To achieve the objective of the study, basic research questions were raised regarding the. dominant situations and leadership behavior facing the principal, the fit between the situation and leadership behavior, and teachers' level of job satisfaction, motivation and acceptance of their principal. Descriptive survey research design was employed . The size of the population was 638. Of this, 187 teachers and 16 principals were included in the sample. A jive point Likert scale questionnaire and semi-structured interview items that were developed by the researcher for teachers and principals were the data collection instruments. The questionnaires were administered to all the participants. Among them, 181 teachers and 16 principals submitted the administered questionnaire to the researcher. Combinations of simple random, proportional, systematic and comprehensive sampling techniques were used. Pilot study ·was conducted before the questionnaire was administered The reliability of the scales was computed using Cronbach alpha. Cronbach alpha values were (Environmental' school situation=O. 864, teacher characteristics=O. 988, leadership effectiveness=O. 761, Job satisfaction=0.806, motivation=0.864, acceptance of principals=O. 743). Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis techniques were employed to compute the data. 197 questionnaires were properly filled in and analyzed. To analyze the data percentage, mean score, one sample t-test, independent t-test, and narrative analysis were used Reliability and data analysis were conducted using SPSS (version 17). The finding revealed that any dominant situation facing the principal were not observed, the result shows the existence of all types of situations with slightly higher values to situation three Dominant leadership behavior were not observed, the principals' exhibited all leadership behavior with slight difference on directive leadership behavior. In addition, according to path-goal theory, principals' leadership behaviors were ineffective on the perceptions of teachers and principals since there were no match between the given situation and principals' leadership behavior. But when each situation carefully analyzed, principals were moderately effective in situation four. The finding also revealed that teachers were not satisfied, unmotivated, and they didn't accept their principals. Moreover, independent I-test demonstrated that statistical significance differences were observed between effective and ineffective leadership behavior. Therefore, it may be concluded that the perceived principal leadership behavior would be ineffective since there were a mismatch between the school situation facing the principal in the school and his leadership behavior applying for them. So, it is recommended that creating awareness, giving short and long term professional training on the bases of Contingency leadership theory frame work for those school principals are expected from woreda, zone, and regional educational bureau.

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Educational Leadershi