Supporting Families Community of Practice Evaluation

South Dakota 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 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
State Data Brief Template

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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 South Dakota 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
State Data Brief Template

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A Look into South Dakota’s Community of Practice

South Dakota (SD) is one of the expansion states that joined the National Supporting Families CoP 

in 2016. The SD CoP is a collaboration between the Division of Developmental Disabilities 

(DDD) and the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Council. The timeline below (Exhibit 4) provides 

detailed information about SD’s participation in the CoP over time.

Exhibit 4. Timeline of South Dakota’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 DDD was 4,604. 

Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) recipients include people with I/DD who receive 

Medicaid or State-funded supports and services. In 2016, 45% of 4,604 LTSS recipients in SD

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

for recipients with I/DD, which amounted to $31,991 per recipient in 2016.3

Understanding the current state of I/DD services and supports in SD 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 SD 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 SD’s CoP during 

evaluation year one:

¡ SD is working with partners, such as Therap and UMKC, to implement a standardized 

individualized support plan (ISP) informed by the CoP and CtLC framework. The DDD has 

unified Therap accounts among Case Managers (CMs) and direct providers for CHOICES 

waiver services.

¡ One area of innovation identified by SD was combining person-centered training (PCT) and 

CtLC philosophies in training opportunities, such as webinars. Ambassadors from both groups 

also came together to plan the 2019 SD Gathering.

¡ The number of SD LifeCourse Ambassadors increased from two in 2017 to 11 in 2019.

SD’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 SD’s achievements from evaluation year one.

 

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.
State Data Brief Template

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

Value Cycle CoP Activities and Achievements

Cycle 1: Immediate Value

Value of Activities and 

Interactions Themselves

§ The DD Council acts as a liaison between SD Advocates for Change and the 

DDD.

§ Many of the LifeCourse Ambassadors in SD are family members of individuals 

with I/DD.

§ The CoP uses stakeholder feedback to inform policy and systems change.

Cycle 2: Potential Value

Changes in Knowledge 

Capital

§ The state CoP engages in informal CtLC training and education sessions with 

CMs, Service Coordinators, families, and self-advocates.

§ SD uses the CtLC framework in systems planning and infrastructure to provide 

a different lens towards progress.

§ SD created and disseminated the "Charting a Person-Centered Path to 

Employment" resource, which outlines services and provides anticipatory 

guidance.

§ The CtLC framework is working its way through several sectors within the state 

including Education, Department of Corrections, LTSS Systems, etc.

Cycle 3: Applied Value

Changes in Practice

§ DDD created a procedure for families and waiver participants to request 

additional funding throughout the year due to shifts in self-directed budgets.

§ DDD revised the CHOICES waiver definitions to reflect time-limited 

prevocational services and other day/employment-related services.

§ In response to the ALL principle outlined in CtLC, SD increased the number and 

skill level of Service Coordinators to meet the demand from individuals and 

families.

Cycle 4: Realized Value

Performance 

Improvement

§ Revised waivers reduced wait times and increased retention rates of 

individuals with I/DD and their families. Individuals’ needs were better met 

through continued participation in the waiver.

§ The CtLC framework impacted professional development through encouraging 

more creative thinking, and in turn, influencing the culture around disability 

work.

Cycle 5: Reframed Value

Redefining Success

§ As a result of the CoP and CtLC framework, DDD changed some of its goals and 

strategies, such as the assessment of additional funding requests to meet the 

needs of individuals with intensive support needs. DDD now looks to the CoP 

as an advisory board to better understand people's needs.