<![CDATA[Despite the growing adoption of Indonesia’s Love-Based Curriculum (KBC), empirical evidence remains limited regarding how its humanistic principles are translated into accountable and sustainable educational practices. This study evaluates KBC implementation at MTs Nurul Islam Bayung Lencir through a Total Quality Management (TQM) framework encompassing learner-centered responsiveness, continuous improvement, institutional involvement, and evidence-based decision-making. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design integrated questionnaire data from 171 respondents, comprising one headmaster, 18 teachers, and 152 students, with in-depth interviews, open-ended student responses, classroom observations, and document analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, while qualitative findings were systematically analyzed and triangulated across sources. The overall questionnaire-based implementation index reached 83.49% (Good), with learner-centered responsiveness achieving the highest rating (87.81%, Very Good). Continuous improvement (80.34%), institutional involvement (81.69%), and evidence-based decision-making (84.12%) were categorized as Good. A consistent teacher–student perception gap averaging 6.19 percentage points, alongside discrepancies between reported practices and observational evidence, revealed weaknesses in reflective documentation, institutional feedback, and systematic character monitoring. These findings demonstrate that institutional endorsement of compassion-centered education does not necessarily ensure its consistent operationalization. Integrating KBC with TQM offers an evaluative approach that connects ethical commitments with institutional accountability and continuous improvement. Strengthening implementation requires systematic reflection, meaningful student participation, and evidence-informed quality assurance, although the single-institution context limits the generalizability of the findings]]>
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