Profile of a Collaborative Elementary Catholic School Principal

This research documents five K-8 Catholic school principals lived experience of collaborating in the Catholic system. Key influences include colleagues, faculty, and the experts in the field of both leadership studies and Catholic culture. The three areas of interest and focus include leadership attributes in a learning organization, the Catholic culture, and collaborative decision-making models in the school setting. The key sources for leadership studies include Beyer and Smith (1998), Ellinor and Gerard (1998), Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) and for the Catholic culture Lundholm-Eades (2005) and Ristau (1991). A profile of a collaborative leader emerged from the research based on how certain dominant leadership attributes contribute to this type of a profile.