Introduction
The Supporting Evaluation Efforts for Demonstrations in Self-Sufficiency (SEEDS) project provided evaluation support and capacity building to 20 Family Self-Sufficiency Demonstration Development (FSSDD) grant recipients. The FSSDD grant recipients operate many different types of programs for families who are eligible for or at risk of becoming eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In collaboration with Mathematica and The Adjacent Possible™, the project developed resources to support grant recipients in conducting research, improving program outcomes, and building evidence capacity. These resources were designed to be widely accessible, providing the guidance and scaffolding needed to build and use evidence in day-to-day work.
This document serves as a guide for human services leaders who want to make evidence-driven change in their programs. The guide outlines how to test a small change to a process or program (a “road test”) before implementing that change more widely. A road test provides quick information to evaluate how people understand and experience the change. Insights from the road test can help a team assess the effectiveness of the change, decide whether to scale it up, adjust it based on feedback, or abandon it if it's deemed unsuccessful.
Purpose
Human services organizations strive to implement high quality programs and services to meet the needs of their communities. Practitioners often see opportunities to make improvements to existing processes or programs. Road tests offer a way to test those improvements on a small scale. This guide provides straightforward guidance and a step-by-step process for testing a change and assessing whether it is working as planned, before rolling it out more broadly. It also helps practitioners make decisions in response to the results of the road test. No matter the organization, road tests are a valuable tool for systematically collecting and analyzing data about a program change before it goes to scale—potentially saving organizations time and other resources.
Key Findings and Highlights
The guide outlines five steps for conducting a road test. Each step provides clear instructions, guiding questions, tips, and links to resources to help plan for and carry out a road test.
These five steps include:
- STEP 1: Document what you are road testing (the change and how you are making it)
- STEP 2: Figure out specifically what you want to know
- STEP 3: Develop a data collection plan
- STEP 4: Develop data collection instruments and plan your analysis
- STEP 5: Conduct the road test, reflect, and make decisions
Some of the additional guiding documents and tools include:
- Guidance for designing and conducting one-on-one interviews or focus groups
- Guidance for conducting the rose, thorn, bud activity
- Tips for designing surveys
- Worksheet 1: Road test roles, deadlines, and action steps
- Worksheet 2: Data collection plan
Citation
Mastri, Annalisa, Michelle Derr, and Julia Lyskawa. (2025). “Road testing changes: A how-to guide.” OPRE Report #2025-041, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.