This research focused on the school turnaround process in six turnaround elementary schools located in urban and rural areas of the state of North Carolina. The purpose of the study was to learn about the challenges facing the six schools, the process of improving student achievement, and, more specifically, the degree to which adaptive leadership impacted school turnaround. To gain a better understanding of how adaptive leadership affected both successful and unsuccessful school turnaround initiatives, the researcher subdivided the six schools into the two categories of high growth and low growth, based on the difference between the schools' performance composite scores between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. The three high growth schools showed a performance composite growth of 25 points or more, while the three low growth schools either improved by 5 points or fewer, or saw a slight decline in their performance composite during the turnaround process. The researcher collected qualitative data from principals, assistant principals, teachers, and other school and/or district personnel through semi-structured one-on-one and focus group interviews at the school sites. While one researcher analyzed the collected data through a conceptual framework based on the definitions and characteristics of structural adaptation and maladaptation, this researcher simultaneously analyzed the same data set (obtained through the same protocol) through a conceptual framework based on the definitions and characteristics of adaptive leadership, internal locus of control, and external locus of control. After the separate analyses were completed, the researchers compared and contrasted their findings and conclusions. Based on their collective findings, the researchers conceptualized a new framework integrating the principal's adaptive leadership abilities (as defined through his or her locus of control behaviors) with structural adaptation measures employed at the school level. [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.]