<![CDATA[Accelerating the quality of primary education in the Merdeka Belajar era demands an adaptive reorientation of school management. However, principals' tendency to implement a uniform leadership model often overlooks teachers' diverse characteristics. This study aims to analyze the implementation of the principal's contingency leadership in improving school quality, describe adjustments to leadership style based on teacher readiness, and identify the factors that support and inhibit it. Using a qualitative approach with a hermeneutic phenomenological design, data were gathered through interviews, observations, and documentation in three public elementary schools in Cluwak, Pati. The findings reveal a dualism of reality between adaptive-situational patterns and formalistic standardization. Effective leadership style adjustments (shifting from selling to participating and delegating) successfully transform school quality into a substantive level, fostering instructional innovation and improving Education Report Cards. Conversely, rigid governance only fosters a compliance culture that reduces quality to mere paperwork. In conclusion, the acceleration of school quality is determined in large part by leadership style flexibility. Principals are suggested to develop periodic teacher readiness portfolios to provide proportional supervision and autonomy.]]>
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