This study focuses on an evaluation project that served as a powerful professional development experience for teachers and leaders in a network of Chicago small schools. The network of small schools led by the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative is based on the Authentic Intellectual Achievement (AIA) framework originally conceived by Fred Newmann. As teachers developed rubrics to measure AIA and scored teachers' assignments and student work collected from their own schools to establish baseline data on the schools' achievement on the AIA scales, they gained deeper understanding of the AIA framework, which served as the theory of instruction for the network of small schools. Participants' reactions to the impact of their involvement on their teaching practices are explored. (Contains 1 table.)