Leadership, trust, and collaboration are timeless constructs that have existed since the dawn of man. It is not surprising that these constructs permeate organizations and can have both advantageous and deleterious implications for organizational outcomes. One such organization where these constructs are arguably even more pertinent is in schools. Schools are complex adaptive systems that are constantly evolving internally and externally. Thus, schools are more than the sum of their parts. This complexity obfuscates the links that tie these timeless constructs together, which highlights the challenge of strategically utilizing these constructs. If we can better understand how to utilize leadership, trust, and collaboration, then we can more aptly create positive environments for students, teachers, and administrators. We can create spaces where learning is optimized for students and professional growth is optimized for teachers and administrators. Conversely, if we fail to utilize these constructs in school contexts, then we stand little chance at tackling wicked problems such as narrowing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps in our schools. However, we must start by understanding how these constructs are both directly and indirectly associated with school climate before we can begin to institutionalize strategies in schools. This dissertation begins by making the case for leadership, trust, and collaboration in schools by using the literature to create a path model that links these constructs together. Then, this path model is tested against school-level data from urban schools in New York City. Lastly, given the model's excellent goodness-of-fit to the real-world school data, the model is applied to examine differences in these associations across building levels. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]