Principals of low-performing schools in northern New Mexico lack adequate professional development to improve student outcomes. Exploration of experiences in the professional development program, Principals Pursuing Excellence, studied the lived phenomena of 12 rural northeastern turnaround school leaders through the conceptual framework of transformational leadership theory. Data was collected through semi-structured phenomenological interviews to answer the two central research questions: 1) How do principals in northeastern New Mexico describe their experience from participation in PPE, a professional development program designed to improve student outcomes in New Mexico? 2) How do principals describe any changes to leadership practices due to the PPE professional development? Data analysis was completed through hermeneutic interpretive phenomenology to understand, analyze, and interpret the participant's experiences and explore the topics through a theoretical perspective. Through manual and electronic coding, the four themes identified that aligned with the study's literature, conceptual framework, and research questions were: comfort with implementing change, improved planning, collaborative effort, and team-building and sharing of responsibilities. As a result, recommendations to improve leadership practices and statewide policy changes to implement a framework for school leaders' professional development emerged. [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.]