Abstract
A phenomenological study was conducted to explore the collaborative leadership experiences of assistant principals in large public high schools. Five themes emerged to help further the understanding of collaborative processes that support teachers in preparing students for 21st century skills. Within the context of student learning outcomes examples, assistant principals worked collaboratively with others. The learning outcomes included more writing across the subjects, increased student participation in work-experiences, an increase in college-going experiences, improved critical thinking in math courses, more access to online/blended courses, English learner techniques in better managed classrooms, and more rigorous life science courses for low achieving and students with learning disabilities. From these examples, aspiring and practicing school administrators might have a clearer description of decentralized decision-making in a school culture of collaborative leadership. Assistant principals can be viewed as model collaborative leaders that have a voice in reforms preparing students for 21st century learning. The researcher provided recommendations for school administrators interested in leadership practices that are not top-down adding to existing school leadership studies on collaborative and distributed leadership.|Keywords: Collaborative leadership, high schools, assistant principals, student learning outcomes, administrative teams, 21st century learning skills