In the 2002–03 school year, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) utilized part of its Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding to provide assistive technology grants to school districts in Maryland. In summer 2002, it hosted a grant competition to all its state school districts required to increase the use of assistive technology as determined by local goals and objectives. Districts received between $100,000 to $250,000 in grants, depending on the scope of the project.

Many of the school districts were supported by the Maryland Assistive Technology Network (MATN), which helped them implement and evaluate their grants through an established electronic learning community forum as well as regional meetings and two conferences. MATN has been developed and sustained by a partnership through the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and its Center for Technology in Education (CTE) for 16 years. The partnership provides policy-to-practice assistance on assistive and instructional technology.

CTE established and leads the MATN, which consists of a group of 250 participants, including assistive technology coordinators, special education technology teachers, and JHU and MSDE assistive technology leaders. Members of the network receive professional development opportunities from CTE, which also coordinates two institutes per year with nationally acclaimed leaders in assistive technology, conducts regional meetings, and maintains the MATN Electronic Learning Community. The Electronic Learning Community is a very active electronic mailing list that provides online training, chat sessions around specific topics, follow-up to in-person trainings, and a forum to seek information on any topic related to the provision of assistive technology services.

The original members of MATN were designated by directors of special education or school administrators to provide assistive technology services in their local school system. The members included special educators, speech and language pathologists, assistive technology specialists, occupational therapists, vision specialists, state administrators, district administrators, physical therapists, and hearing specialists (in order, from greatest to least percentage) (Center for Technology Education, n.d.). This professional network has grown over the last 16 years as federal and state grants have been received to continually fund professional development programs designed to promote the instructional uses of assistive technology in Maryland schools. As a result of collaborative planning with state and local school administrators, the MATN professional development activities are now supported by MSDE and coordinated through CTE.

The purpose of the network is "to promote improved knowledge and skills of educators, related professionals, and administrators who are responsible for providing instruction for students who use assistive technology to achieve educational goals" (Center for Technology Education, n.d.). Another main task of MATN has been to build and sustain local capacity for assistive and instructional technology training and implementation. There is a designee from each of the 24 local school districts and the Maryland School for the Blind participating in the MATN leadership group, which meets biannually for a leadership session on policy-to-practice issues. The entire MATN group meets on an ongoing basis within the MATN electronic learning community and at the fall and summer institute.

In 2002, the CTE assisted MSDE with the coordination of the assistive technology grants, which include site visits, monthly meetings, mentorship, and technical assistance for professional development and grant evaluation. The goals of these grants are development of systems for technology capacity building, assessment of technology effectiveness, and to design and delivery of high-quality professional development. One main goal of the assistive technology grants has been to prepare products in formats that are useful for parents, administrators, teachers, and related services personnel. The grants and work of MATN have been to link curriculum and the use of specific instructional and assistive technology to state standards where appropriate and to find paths where assistive technology fits within the curriculum.

For a summary of the grants distribution and their goals, see Appendix.