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The agenda for national development requires a persistent improvement in education as a tool for creating knowledgeable human capital, highly skilled labour, a high technology society and ultimately a highly civilized nation for the future challenging world. It requires considerable financial and technical investment as well as effective and efficient public administration to realize these aims. The persistent actions by the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education in Malaysia throughout the past decades to enhance the quality of school financial management were portrayed in the country's national master plans such as the Education Development Master Plan (PIPP) 2006-2010, the Tenth Malaysia Plan 2010-2015 and the Malaysia Education Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025. Among the strategies focused on upgrading education and curriculum delivery is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of educational financial management as a vital part of educational administration. The latest Tenth Malaysia Plan 2010-2015 was formed with the objective of revamping the education system in order to significantly raise student outcomes. As an innovative approach to realize the effectiveness of knowledge delivery, public-private partnerships have been established for pre-school and primary and secondary education which allow for significant autonomy for school managers.

The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between principal leadership styles and students' academic achievement. The researchers applied a correlation survey with quantitative approach. The sample size included 150 school principals in Malaysia. The instrument used in this study was an adapted version of Bolman & Deal leadership orientation (1991a) survey and Selangor Secondary School Exit Exam Report as student achievement. The findings of this study show that there is a positive, direct and slight correlation between student academic achievement and Four-Frame leadership (structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frame). Thus, the results did, support the belief that principal leadership styles can have direct influence on student achievement. Additionally, in this study human resource frame can predict student achievement. With regard to the findings, this research presented suggestions to improve principal leadership style in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]