Infectious pessimism, widespread apathy, and volatile relationships: these describe the high school culture I unwittingly adopted as a first-time principal at Potsdam High School in a rural suburban town in New England. I conducted a three-year intensive self-study and participatory action research project to challenge the status quo definition of educational quality in American public high school as a statistical tool of ranking, separating students, and compliance. I sought through co-investigation with beneficiaries and stakeholders of public high school a life-affirming, need-fulfilling and performance-enhancing meaning of quality to challenge the status quo Based on action research, I created a new meta-model of the meaning of quality to guide my leadership called Transformational Quality Theory (TQT). The thesis describes how using TQT theory influenced my improvement as a school leader and educational theorist, the learning and transformation of other people, and the impact it had on improving the academic and social milieu of an impoverished American high school