The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between principals' perceptions of their transformational leadership behaviors and academic achievement in the areas of reading, math, science, and social studies in South Carolina public elementary schools. The theoretical framework for this research was provided by the transformational leadership theory proposed by James MacGregor Burns (1978). The researcher collected primary data for principals' self-perceived transformational leadership using the transformational leadership scale from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Leader Form. The secondary data for academic achievement at school level were retrieved from the 2015 South Carolina "State Report Card (South Carolina Department of Education", 2015). The achievement measures used in this study included percentages of students who met and exceeded expectations on the ACT Aspire reading and mathematics and the SC PASS science and social studies tests. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 48 elementary school principals from 13 school districts located in South Carolina. The results of the simple linear regression analysis showed that principals' self-perceived transformational leadership was a statistically significant negative predictor of academic achievement in reading: F (1, 46) = 4.871, p = 0.032, adjusted R[superscript 2] = 0.076, ß = -0.309, t = -2.207, and was not significantly related to academic achievement in mathematics, science, and social studies. However, due to the small convenience sample, the results of the study were inconclusive and cannot be generalized to the entire population. [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.]