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Supporting Families Community of Practice Evaluation

Maryland State Data Brief

Evaluation Overview

In 2012, the Administration for Community Living (ACL), through the Administration on 

Disabilities (AoD)1, awarded the five-year National Supporting Families Community of Practice 

(CoP) grant to the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services 

(NASDDDS), which partnered with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Institute on Human 

Development (UMKC-IHD). In the first year of the grant, 15 states applied and five were selected 

to participate, including Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and

Washington, with Missouri serving as the mentor state. Given growing interest in the work of the

CoP, NASDDDS and UMKC-IHD decided to expand and sustain the CoP outside of the initial 

grant. A second cohort, known as the expansion states, joined in 2016, including Alabama, 

Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. 

With interest continuing to grow around the nation, the CoP welcomed five new states—

Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, and New Jersey—in 2019 and created 

opportunities for participating states to adjust their level of participation.

Three project outcomes guide the work of the 

National Supporting Families CoP:

¡ State and national consensus on a national 

framework and agenda for improving supports

for families with children with I/DD

¡ Enhanced state policies, practices, and 

sustainable systems that result in improved 

supports to families

¡ Enhanced capacity of states to replicate and 

sustain exemplary practices to support 

families and systems

To examine progress toward federal project 

outcomes and identify which activities are leading 

to success, ACL funded the National Supporting 

Families CoP evaluation. The evaluation team 

gathered data that align with the three project 

outcomes to determine how the CoP is producing 

outcomes of interest to ACL, which reflect the five AoD priority areas (Exhibit 1). Findings will 

provide ACL with outcomes data and recommendations to improve supports to families of 

individuals with I/DD. They will also provide information on how the CoP and Charting the 

LifeCourse (CtLC) framework improve support and systems delivery of services to families and 

individuals with I/DD.

 

1 The Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) initiated the evaluation in 2017. The 

Administration on Disabilities (AoD) now oversees the evaluation.

Exhibit 1. AoD Priority Areas

The Five AoD Priority Areas

§ Ensure the continued protection of rights of 

individuals with I/DD and prevent their abuse, 

neglect, and exploitation

§ Improve and maintain effective and responsive 

management of responsibilities under 

Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of 

Rights Act of 2000 (the DD Act)

§ Promote Employment First as a key strategy for 

individuals with I/DD to be contributing and 

productive members of society participating in 

the competitive integrated workforce

§ Empower individuals with I/DD and their families 

to access home and community based (HCBS) 

and supports that are self-directed and ensure 

opportunity for community participation

§ Support advocacy efforts of individuals with I/DD 

in order to ensure their participation in system 

and service delivery design
 2

The evaluation includes all 16 states that participated in the National Supporting Families CoP for 

at least two years between 2012 and 2018. For evaluation purposes, evaluators stratified states into 

three groups based on their stage of development, as described in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2. Evaluation Participants

Group One Group Two Group Three

The six original CoP states:

§ Connecticut

§ District of Columbia

§ Missouri (mentor state)

§ Oklahoma

§ Tennessee

§ Washington

States with previous exposure to 

the CoP and CtLC framework before 

joining the expansion state cohort:

§ Maryland

§ Ohio

§ Pennsylvania

§ South Dakota

States with little or no exposure to 

the CoP and CtLC framework before 

joining the expansion state cohort:

§ Alabama

§ Delaware

§ Hawaii

§ Indiana

§ Kansas

§ Oregon

Evaluators collected data from states using four tools:

¡ Reporting tools (one for each state grouping) gathered descriptive data about CoP structure, 

activities, and impact.

¡ Telephone interviews (informed by the reporting tools) collected contextual data about CoP 

activities and accomplishments specific to each state.

¡ Site visits (to select states) with CoP leadership and other stakeholders provided data on the

relationship between CoP activities, outputs, and outcomes.

¡ Materials review (on an ad-hoc basis) collected needed data on areas of interest.

Evaluators analyzed the collected data using a conceptual framework developed by Wenger, 

Trayner, and de Laat2(Exhibit 3), which assesses value creation in communities. Adapted for 

evaluation purposes, the framework considers five different cycles of value creation to capture the 

richness of value created by communities of practice. The following page describes the value 

generated from CoP activities and the CtLC framework within the Maryland CoP.

 

2 Wenger, E., Trayner, B., and de Laat, M. (2011). Promoting and Assessing Value Creation in Communities and 

Networks: A Conceptual Framework. Rapport 18, Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open University of the Netherlands.

Exhibit 3. Value Cycle Framework
 3

A Look into Maryland’s Community of Practice

Maryland (MD) is one of the expansion states that joined the National Supporting Families CoP in 

2016. The MD CoP is a collaboration between the Maryland Developmental Disabilities 

Administration (DDA), the MD Developmental Disabilities Council (DD Council) and the Arc 

MD.. The timeline below (Exhibit 4) provides detailed information about MD’s participation in the 

CoP over time.

Exhibit 4. Timeline of Maryland’s CoP Participation

Using data from the most recent Residential Information Systems Project Report developed by the 

University of Minnesota, the number of people with I/DD known to or served by DDA in 2016

was 22,159. Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) recipients include people with I/DD who 

receive Medicaid or State-funded supports and services. In 2016, 8% of 22,159 LTSS recipients in 

MD lived at home with a family member. The report also shows annual Medicaid Waiver 

expenditures for recipients with I/DD, which amounted to $60,582 per recipient in 2016.3

Understanding the current state of I/DD services and supports in MD is important in better 

understanding how CoP activities and the CtLC framework impact families and individuals with 

I/DD. The evaluation team gathered valuable data from MD through administration of the 

reporting tool, telephone interview, and materials review. After careful analysis of the data using 

the value cycle framework, the evaluation team noted the following key achievements by 

Connecticut’s CoP during evaluation year one:

¡ DDA renewed its Community Pathways Waiver guided by the CtLC framework and added 

three new services: Family Caregiver Training and Empowerment; Family Peer Mentoring 

Support; and Participant Education, Training, and Advocacy Supports.

¡ DDA launched two new waivers—the Family Supports Waiver and the Community Supports 

Waiver—that include CtLC language to ensure context, purpose, and consistency. With these 

new waivers, DDA moved 800 people off the waiting list and into services.

¡ DDA established a Family Supports Steering Committee (composed of families) to inform 

leadership of needed family supports and services.

 

3 Larson, S.A., Eschenbacher, H.J., Anderson, L.L., Taylor, B., Pettingell, S., Hewitt, A., Sowers, M., & Bourne, M.L. 

(in press, 2018). In-home and residential long-term supports and services for persons with intellectual or developmental 

disabilities: Status and trends through 2016. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Research and Training Center on 

Community Living, Institute on Community Integration.
 4

MD’s continued participation in the National Supporting Families CoP shows their commitment to 

the CtLC framework and advancing supports for families of individuals with I/DD. The following 

tables includes a more comprehensive list of MD’s achievements from evaluation year one.

Exhibit 5. Maryland’s Achievements in Evaluation Year One, 2018-2019

Value Cycle CoP Activities and Achievements

Cycle 1: Immediate Value

Value of Activities and 

Interactions Themselves

§ In 2018, MD launched six local CoPs in addition to three pre-existing groups, 

and has the intention of establishing 15 more. Local CoPs meet regularly and 

serve a variety of roles: peer-to-peer supports and information exchange, 

broad stakeholder exchange, and CtLC strategy application.

§ DDA, the DD Council, and the Arc MD collaboratively support the activities of 

the MD CoP through the provision of funding, staffing and other resources.

Cycle 2: Potential Value

Changes in Knowledge 

Capital

§ MD CoP created and disseminated its Information Folder titled Strategies for 

the Good Life: Supporting Families in Maryland.

§ The MD State Department of Education introduced CtLC to families through its 

Family Resource Centers and during transition planning. The Parents’ Place of 

MD (PPMD) also utilizes CtLC in Transition Training for Parents.

§ The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region (Arc NCR) pairs the CtLC tools with their 

employment certification training for a holistic view of each individual (e.g., 

their skills, preferences, things they do not like, and work readiness).

§ The DD Council provided funding to the Arc MD to launch and administer 

Partners in Policymaking.

Cycle 3: Applied Value

Changes in Practice

§ DDA embedded the CtLC framework, language, and tools into waivers, the 

Employment First initiative, case manager guide, and LTSS database.

§ The DD Council launched its #ExpectationsMatter, #ExpectAbility” Campaign to 

change expectations of what individuals with I/DD can accomplish in 

education, employment, and community living.

§ The Arc MD launched MD’s Parent 2 Parent (P2P) chapter.

§ The Arc NCR embedded CtLC into multiple organization areas, including 

recruitment and hiring practices. Other providers have increased interest in 

the Arc’s work in person-centered planning.

§ In partnership with DDA and the Arc MD, the Arc NCR supports a new staffing 

position that provides more time dedicated to CoP activities.

§ The CoP is working with a variety of stakeholders—Towson University 

Department of Special Education, MD Center for Developmental Disabilities,

the Coordinating Center, MD State Department of Education, and Parents’ 

Place of MD—to embed the CtLC in curricula, policies, or programs.

Cycle 4: Realized Value

Performance 

Improvement

§ DDA's efforts to support families are becoming increasingly noteworthy. 

Families report that DDA recognizes their needs.

§ Families report that the Arc NCR increases access to lasting employment.

Cycle 5: Reframed Value

Redefining Success

§ As a result of the MD CoP and CtLC framework, involved agencies and 

organizations have and continue to change their approaches to families and 

business practices.