School leadership research in China has expanded, but evidence is often fragmented across single outcomes, specific mechanisms, and large-scale datasets. This study examined how three principal leadership orientations relate to five school management outcomes in three secondary schools located in an urban district of eastern China. The analytic sample comprised 100 teachers. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and one-way analysis of variance were used. The results showed a consistent pattern across leadership orientations: transformational leadership had strong positive correlations with school management outcomes (r = .55 to .75, p < .01), transactional leadership showed moderate positive correlations (r = .40 to .55), and passive or avoidant leadership showed negative correlations (r = -.30 to -.45). Significant between-group differences were found for student achievement, F(2, 97) = 8.52, p < .001; teacher retention, F(2, 97) = 7.10, p < .01; teacher job satisfaction, F(2, 97) = 14.82, p < .001; and student attendance, F(2, 97) = 4.13, p < .05. Effect sizes were largest for teacher job satisfaction (?² = .234; ?² = .217), followed by student achievement (?² = .149; ?² = .131), teacher retention (?² = .128; ?² = .109), and student attendance (?² = .078; ?² = .059). By examining teacher-related, organizational, and student-related indicators together, the study addresses current debates over whether school effectiveness should be judged primarily through distal performance outcomes or through the professional and organizational conditions that sustain them. The findings are best interpreted as evidence of association rather than causation and suggest that active, supportive, and context-responsive principal leadership is especially salient for teachers’ work experience in urban Chinese secondary schools.
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