Schools

The Importance of Leadership in Catholic Schools

Here’s my argument: the importance of leadership remains the most important element of a successful school.

The world of Catholic education has changed dramatically since I entered elementary school in 1956 and even more so since the beginning of this century.

These changes include:

• Replacing religious instructors and administrators with lay people.
• The advent of technology in the classroom.
• The expansion of government funds to offset school tuition.

One critical element of success has remained the same – leadership.

Dedicated teachers and staff, sound financial planning, and facility management are all important, but second to leadership.

The Importance of Leadership Across the Diocesan Ecosystem

I have observed both exceptional and poor leadership among diocesan school leaders: principals, superintendents, chancellors, and bishops.  Each one plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of a school.

A Testimonial from Hastings Catholic Schools

The Qualities of a Great Principal

I have worked with talented and dedicated school principals who were personally engaged with the students and staff, who challenged faculty to consistently aim for excellence, and who had an eye on every element of the school.

Why a Principal’s Leadership Dictates Classroom Culture

I have also worked with principals who were incapable or unwilling to put in the effort to create or maintain an excellent academic environment.  That lack of engagement on the part of leadership quickly moves into the faculty and staff and, ultimately, affects the motivation of students.

The Qualities of a Great Superintendent

Most superintendents empower their principals to pursue continuous improvement, making central office staff available to schools providing resources for staff development.

The Consequences of Poor Leadership

Other superintendents, however, impose personal ideologies that stifle growth.  Too often using a one-size-fits-all philosophy, these central offices value conformity throughout the schools in the diocese without acknowledging the differences in local issues such as cost of living and student demographics.

Most disturbing, I have worked with exemplary principals who, because of this central office approach, are either looking for a different job or simply giving up in the face of too many obstacles.

How a Bishop’s Leadership Impacts a School Positively or Negatively

I have worked with bishops who are keenly aware of the issues within their schools and provide assistance when and where appropriate.

They are involved in the public relations of their schools and help with essential fundraising events.

They personally communicate with their principals and faculty, encouraging them to grow in faith and maintain the Catholic mission of the school.

Other bishops seem almost unconcerned with the Catholic schools in their diocese or, worse, see Catholic schools as a drain on the diocese, diverting personnel and resources away from the pastoral activities of the parishes.

If I were to put leadership into a table, it’d look like this:

Role	Servant Leadership Qualities	Poor Leadership Qualities
Principal	Personally engaged; challenges faculty to aim for an excellent school culture.	Unwilling to put in the effort to maintain an environment of excellence.
Superintendent	Empowers principals; provides resources for growth.	Imposes personal ideologies; one-size-fits-all philosophy.
Bishop	Awareness of issues, personal communication and assistance with stakeholder engagement.	Sees schools as a financial drain or a distraction from pastoral work.

The Importance of Leadership in Religious Order Schools

Order schools have a different dynamic, but it still comes down to leadership.  The layers of bureaucracy are fewer, but still prone to tradition rather than innovation.

The reduced numbers of religious available to staff a school or its leadership positions is a challenge, but some orders have adapted.

For example, the Marianists proactively addressed their reduced numbers by implementing continuous training in the Marianist charism for current and aspiring administrators. I’ve seen similar programs with many other order schools. Unfortunately, not all orders have done the same.

In some cases, the Board of Directors, lacking immersion in the charism, moved the focus away from the school’s heritage.

Moreover, term limits for Religious school administrators, often 3 or 4 years with one extension, can disrupt continuity.  While this is good for the order, sharing experiences throughout its membership, it sometimes causes problems for schools trying to focus on continuous improvement.

While interviewing a group of teachers at an order high school, I asked why they weren’t using the newly mandated methodology. They said, with no hesitation, that the priest head of school was going to term out next year, so why bother with a program they don’t like and that might not be maintained.

Problems Holding Back Effective Leadership and the Creative Solutions

Facilities are important, but I have seen both elementary and secondary schools with poor facilities doing a wonderful job educating and forming youth.  One of my favorite examples is St. Anthony High School in Jersey City (sadly closed for financial reasons), known nationally for its successful boys’ basketball team, yet lacking its own gym! They borrowed a barely adequate gym from a nearby non-profit.

I suggested to the coach that the gym was a problem, and he disagreed. Though he would have preferred a better facility, he focused on teaching and coaching in the space available to him-no excuses.

Hiring appropriate, certified teachers has been a large problem for years.  They are on the front line of forming youth and must be capable and mission-driven. Once again, I experienced principals, supported by their diocese or order, who found creative and affordable ways to hire and retain an excellent faculty and staff.

Equally as important is the willingness of the school principal to remove ineffective teachers and the diocesan HR department to help transition poor teachers out rather than fearing frivolous lawsuits. Weak leadership can lead to a mediocre faculty.

Financial management is crucial to a school’s success and longevity.  The role of leadership here is critical. I have sadly worked with schools where the external leadership (diocesan or order) was unaware of looming financial problems until it was too late.

I have also worked with schools where the principal did not pay attention to the budget or balance sheet because “that’s not my area.”

In contrast, those schools I experienced with strong leadership always had a principal that was deeply involved with financial planning and participated in the creation and administration of the annual budget.

The Importance of Leadership in Catholic Schools Is Not a Buzzword

I hope this personal analysis of our schools is not disheartening.  In fact, my 20 years working at Meitler with Catholic schools throughout the United States leaves me optimistic.

Most of the schools I encountered have strong leadership and are supported by dedicated employees, parents, and board members. Most dioceses and Orders support their schools appropriately and help them become exemplary educational institutions.

It is the schools lacking strong leadership that remain most in my memory-not because they failed but because their issues were so often solvable.

Leadership remains the key to unlocking the full potential of Catholic PK-12 education.

Our Meitler team understands the importance of leadership and works with school leaders to cultivate the qualities of a good leader from the board all the way to the families. Let’s get started.

Rick Pendergast

Rick Pendergast was a Senior Consultant with Meitler for 20 years, helping to develop comprehensive strategic plans with 128 elementary and secondary schools in 20 different dioceses throughout the United States. He recently retired from Meitler.

What is College Readiness?

In Catholic education, the phrase “college readiness” is more than a label; it reflects a tradition of academic rigor, faith and moral formation, and a commitment to excellence.

Our schools have long been places of transformation, shaping not only minds but hearts. Yet in today’s complex educational landscape, we’re invited to deepen that promise by ensuring that transformation includes the skills students need to thrive in college and beyond.

True college readiness in a Catholic school context isn’t just about a high GPA or a rigorous transcript; it is the profound combination of academic achievement, spiritual formation, and the executive functioning skills required to persist through the mundane of college life.

The big question to ask ourselves is: Are we preparing students to be successful throughout college, or just to get in?

The distinction matters.

While Catholic schools boast impressive graduation rates and college enrollment figures such as 98.7% graduate, 83.7% enroll (NCEA, 2025), these metrics don’t tell the full story. Nationally, nearly one in four college students fail to return for their sophomore year and among part-time students, the retention rate drops below 60% (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2025). These numbers reveal a troubling gap between readiness and persistence.

So what’s missing? The answer is twofold.

The Two Essential Components of College Readiness

One part of the answer to improving college readiness lies in executive functioning, which is a set of cognitive and emotional skills that allow students to manage their time, regulate their emotions, advocate for themselves, and adapt to new challenges.

These are not soft skills. They are survival skills. And they are often assumed to develop passively, rather than taught intentionally.

The other part of the answer lies in the will of school leaders to transform the high school experience to reflect the needs of young people entering college today versus forty years ago.

Here’s How Catholic High Schools Find the Sweet Spot

The Myth of Passive College Readiness

Too often, schools operate under the assumption that executive functioning will emerge naturally through academic rigor and structured environments.

College presents a radically different reality. Students must navigate unstructured schedules, soft skills vs. hard skills, complex social dynamics, and high-stakes decision-making, all without the scaffolding they’ve relied on in high school.

Daily life:

• Are our students consistently managing their time?
• Completing tasks independently?
• Making thoughtful decisions?
• Are these skills masked by external structure and adult oversight?

Academically:

We celebrate high achievement. But beneath the surface:

• Are students truly equipped to organize complex assignments?
• Sustain attention across multiple modalities?
• Retain information under pressure?

Socially:
We emphasize community and character. Yet college requires emotional regulation, self-advocacy, and the ability to navigate diverse relationships.

• Are we creating environments where these skills are practiced and refined, or merely preached?

And when it comes to long-term goals:

• Do our students know how to set meaningful objectives?
• Adapt when plans falter?
• Persevere through ambiguity?
• Are they entering college with a transcript full of achievements but little experience in personal strategic planning?

Here’s How Meitler Helped Improve College Readiness in the Diocese of Arlington

Catholic Education’s Unique Opportunity to Lead College Readiness

Catholic schools are uniquely positioned to address this challenge.

Our mission is not just academic, it’s formational. We aim to develop the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. This holistic vision provides fertile ground for cultivating executive functioning in ways that align with our values. This requires intentionality on the part of the school.

We must move beyond the assumption that structure equals skill.

Instead, we need to embed executive functioning into the curriculum, advisory programs, and spiritual formation.

That means teaching students how to:

1. Plan
2. Reflect
3. Regulate
4. Advocate-not just in theory, but through lived experience.

It also means tracking what matters. Graduation and enrollment are important, but they’re not enough. Catholic schools must begin monitoring alumni persistence, transfer rates, and degree completion. Only then can we assess whether our preparation truly endures.

Next Steps for Improving College Readiness in Your School

If we want “college readiness” to mean more than a marketing label, we must interrogate our practices. Are we cultivating executive functioning intentionally, or relying on tradition and structure to carry the weight?

We need school leaders, boards, and counselors to rethink the growing employment opportunities and career paths available for students in the 2020’s and to the future in the 2030’s.

What exists for students to build a successful life, one with a sustainable family income, growth potential, as well as personally fulfillment?

Let’s teach our students to manage their time, regulate their emotions, and advocate for their needs. Let’s prepare them to set goals, adapt to change, and persevere through uncertainty. Let’s ensure that when they walk across the graduation stage, they’re not just ready for college, they’re ready to build a better life for themselves.

In the end, college readiness isn’t about acceptance letters. It’s about formation.

And Catholic education, at its best, is formation that lasts.

If you’re ready to redefine college readiness and ensure your graduates don’t just enroll, but thrive, partner with Meitler. We provide the data and strategic vision to help your school stay ahead in the shifting education landscape.

Dan Heding

Why Your School Needs a Comprehensive Portrait of a Graduate

A portrait of a graduate is a school district’s vision for the character of its students. Its definition must never be limited to solely academic achievements and goals.

It must prioritize and describe the moral framework, convictions, and personal values that define the student upon graduation.

On the feast day of St. Clare of Assisi, I often think of her quote: “We become what we love, and who we love shapes who we become.”

I remember one August (many years ago) when I spent several days preparing my classroom for the start of school. I had just been hired for my first teaching job, teaching middle school students in a Catholic parish school in a suburb of Milwaukee, WI.

I was hanging up some motivational posters in the classroom (probably purchased through a catalog I found in the teacher’s lounge of the school where I did my student teaching).

One poster said, “Who you are becoming is more important than what you are achieving.” While not exactly the school’s mission, I chose to put it at the front of the classroom. I certainly wanted student outcomes to include hard work, good grades, and achievements, but even at the beginning of my teaching career, I had a sense that there was truth to that poster.

At the heart of a graduate’s portrait is “who you are becoming.”

Learning from St. Clare

A number of years later I started working at a university sponsored by Franciscan sisters, in a lay ministry formation center called the Saint Clare Center.

As I began to learn more about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, I realized that they would have agreed with the poster at the front of my first classroom. Rather than seeking upward mobility, they chose a life of downward mobility, embracing poverty and service because they wanted to become more like Jesus.

For Clare, a key to becoming more like Jesus was prayer. In one of her letters, she encouraged the reader to “Gaze upon Christ, consider Christ, contemplate Christ, so as to imitate Christ.”

Clare sought to become a vessel of God’s compassionate love for others, and prayer was part of her method to promote that transformation – as was her practice of washing the feet of the other sisters in the convent, or her habit of walking through the dormitory at night to make sure each sister was well covered by a blanket.

Defining the Ideal Portrait of a Graduate through a Catholic Lens

If St. Clare came to a graduation ceremony at one of our Catholic schools, I think she would be uninterested in graduate portraits touting our students’ GPAs, and unimpressed by the dollar amounts of the scholarships they had won.

I think she would be much more interested in whether the students reflected the goals we establish when we write a Portrait of a Graduate or a Grad at Grad document.

In those documents, we do say that we want students who have become:

• Lifelong learners
• Critical thinkers
• Academically strong

But we also say that because of time spent in Catholic schools, we want students who have become:

• Faith-filled learners who seek the truth
• Generous and compassionate in their service to others
• The people God calls us to be, like St. Clare

A Portrait of a Graduate Shows Really Important to the Graduate and the School

This raises one question for me regarding the portrait of a graduate and our strategic planning.

This raises one question for me, on this feast day of St. Clare. Our schools are intentional and systematic about how all the parts of the school work together to produce academically strong students.

Are we as intentional and systematic about how all the parts of the school work together to help students become more faith-filled, generous, and compassionate – or do we leave that task to the campus minister and the theology teacher?

Is there room for us to do better at identifying methods of transformation, simple steps that everyone in the school can take to help our students (and ourselves) become more like Christ?

Does your school’s portrait of a graduate reflect the ‘downward mobility’ and compassion of St. Clare? Start a conversation with Meitler on how we can make mission and outcomes more intentional.

Michael Taylor