Collaborative leadership in Catholic elementary schools

Term

2007

Capstone

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD

Abstract

The research question addressed is, how do K-8 Catholic school principals describe their role of collaborative decision-making in Catholic schools? The research documents five K-8 Catholic school principals lived experiences of collaborating in the Catholic system. Key influences include colleagues, faculty and the experts in the field of both leadership studies and Catholic culture. Key sources for leadership studies include Beyer and Smith (1998), Ellinor and Gerard (1998), Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005), and for Catholic culture Lundholm-Eades (2005) and Ristau (1991). The three areas of interest and focus of this study include leadership attributes in a learning organization, the Catholic culture, and collaborative decision-making models in the school setting. The research method was two focus group interviews balancing the individual's thoughts and ideas with the collective groups perspective on each issue. These principals seemed to understand Catholic culture and know from their experiences that collaboration was expected in a school setting, but found it more difficult in the Catholic Church.

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