Challenging the Status Quo Meaning of Educational Quality: Introducing Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory©

Infectious pessimism, widespread apathy, and volatile relationships: This describes the high school culture I adopted as a first time principal at Potsdam High School in rural New England, U.S.A. I conducted a three-year intensive self-study and participatory action research project to develop a school culture of quality and hope. I worked to challenge the status quo definition of educational quality in public education as an exclusionary, elitist, and quantitative concept based in constant interpersonal competition and materialism. Based on the research, I created a new meta-model of quality as a guide to my leadership orientation toward other people and learning called, ‘Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory™. The article, derived from my Ph.D. thesis, describes how TQ Theory influenced my improvement as a school leader, the learning of students and teachers, and transformed the academic and social milieu of a previously failing American high school.