Due to increased demands of accountability for student achievement in recent years, the role of the school principal has evolved to include a diverse combination of management and instructional leadership skills. As a result, new emphasis has been placed on the importance of effective evaluation systems designed to both assess and assist principals in promoting student achievement. The goal of this qualitative study was to investigate principals' self-perceptions of their experiences with performance evaluations in one suburban school district in the southeastern area of the United States. Personal interviews were conducted with 10 school principals to identify components of the evaluation process they deemed most beneficial in increasing leadership skills, job satisfaction, and performance improvement, as well as suggestions for improvement of the current system. Results of the study revealed three prevalent themes representing principals' beliefs about their evaluation: conversation, relationships, and complexities. Principals believed that conversation with evaluators about a variety school matters is crucial to the process as well as building positive relationships with their evaluators based on trust, respect, support, and empathy. Principals also described the complexities of a school building administrator's job that make the evaluation process equally complicated. Recommendations for improvement of the current evaluation process were offered, including streamlining paperwork and allowing more informal time with evaluators. [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.]