The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to examine middle school administrators’ perceptions of their preparation programs. The following research questions were addressed as a part of the study:

1. What skills, behaviors, and attitudes do middle school principals perceive to be important to be an effective middle school principal?

2. How do middle school principals perceive their level of preparedness in relation to the specific skills, behaviors, and attitudes?

3. To what degree do middle school principals believe that their level of preparation has influenced them to stay in their current role?

4. Which components of their preparation program do middle principals perceive to be the most valuable?

5. To what extent do middle school principals believe that the school district should design a program specifically to develop middle school principals?

Middle school principals were selected to participate in this study. Quantitative data were gathered via online questionnaires. The research questions were addressed through analysis of the questionnaire data, using descriptive and inferential statistics. This study resulted in recommendations to provide a framework for the development of a principal preparation program designed to train effective middle school principals.