The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between participation and academic emphasis in schools based on the views of school principals. The research group consisted of 828 Turkish school principals who participated in the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey. Within the scope of the research, the School Leadership Scale was used to determine the approaches of school principals to the participation of teachers, the Participation Among Stakeholders Scale was utilized to determine their views of stakeholder participation, and the Academic Pressure Scale was applied to determine the academic emphasis of the schools. In order to determine the participation level, the School Leadership Scale and Participation Among Stakeholders Scale were combined in path analysis. In the analysis of the data, t-tests, ANOVA, and LSD tests were used as post hoc tests, and Pearson correlation analysis and path analysis were performed. As a result of the research, it was determined that school principals’ views were close to high levels regarding teacher and stakeholder participation and they were at high levels regarding academic emphasis. Significant positive correlations were observed between teacher participation, stakeholder participation, and academic emphasis, and school principals’ views on participation were found to be significant predictors of academic emphasis.