Open Road ICC
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Our Work

Listen carefully. Ask good questions. Translate what we learn into action.

Every engagement is different, but our approach is consistent: listen carefully, ask good questions, bring together multiple forms of evidence, and translate what we learn into practical action. Explore selected examples of how Open Road has helped organizations understand impact, navigate complexity, strengthen programs, and plan for what comes next.

Disability Services Early Childhood Policy & Systems
Community members taking part in an inclusive group activity
Disability Services

Evaluating Transition Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities

Best Buddies Maryland Transition Program

Program EvaluationMixed MethodsDisability ServicesContinuous Quality Improvement
The Challenge

Best Buddies Maryland provides transition-focused programming designed to help high school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities build the skills, confidence, and knowledge they need to prepare for adulthood, employment, and postsecondary opportunities.

As the program expanded across Maryland, leaders needed more than outcome data. They wanted to understand how students were experiencing the program, whether programming was producing meaningful change, what was working well in implementation, and where the program could continue to grow and improve.

Our Approach

An independent mixed-method evaluation that brought together multiple perspectives and sources of evidence:

  • Pre- and post-assessments of transition-related skills
  • Student focus groups and accessible polling activities
  • Classroom teacher and program staff interviews
  • Classroom and program observations
  • Stakeholder surveys
  • Curriculum and materials review
  • Quantitative analysis of participant outcomes
  • Qualitative thematic analysis
From Data to Action

Rather than treating evaluation as an end-of-year judgment, we approached the work as a tool for continuous learning. Findings from students, educators, program staff, observations, and quantitative measures were integrated to identify areas of convergence, explain patterns in the data, and distinguish program strengths from opportunities for continued development.

Recommendations addressed experiential learning, family engagement, employment and postsecondary partnerships, transportation and accessibility, instructional approaches, program reach, and ongoing outcome monitoring.

What We Delivered
  • A comprehensive mixed-method evaluation report
  • Quantitative outcome analyses
  • Qualitative findings across stakeholder groups
  • Implementation findings
  • Data visualizations and accessible findings summaries
  • Actionable recommendations for program improvement
  • Guidance for strengthening future outcome monitoring
The Value

The evaluation gave program leaders a fuller picture of program impact, combining measurable participant outcomes with the experiences of the students, educators, and staff closest to the work. Just as importantly, it supported a cycle of evidence, reflection, adaptation, and continuous improvement, helping leaders use findings to strengthen subsequent programming.

Selected project information is shared as an example of Open Road’s evaluation approach. Detailed findings and participant information may be omitted to protect client and participant confidentiality.

A mother and daughter learning together at a laptop
Early Childhood

Evaluating Change Across an Early Childhood Ecosystem

First 10+ Young Mathematicians · Education Development Center

Systems EvaluationEarly ChildhoodImplementationFamily EngagementTheory of Change
The Challenge

First 10+ Young Mathematicians is a multi-partner early mathematics initiative designed to strengthen children’s opportunities to experience joyful and meaningful mathematics across classrooms, families, and communities.

Program leaders needed to understand how implementation was unfolding across settings, whether educator and family experiences were changing over time, how different components of the initiative were interacting, and whether the conditions necessary for longer-term change were developing.

Our Approach

A multi-year, mixed-method external evaluation examining change across multiple levels of the early childhood ecosystem:

  • Educator surveys
  • Family surveys
  • Longitudinal analyses
  • Educator and family focus groups
  • Key-informant interviews
  • Implementation data
  • Quantitative and qualitative analysis
  • Theory of Change analysis
Connecting the Pieces

Rather than examining each data source in isolation, we looked for patterns across stakeholder groups and over time, asking a larger question: Is the initiative creating the interconnected conditions needed to support sustainable change?

We examined findings in relation to the initiative’s Theory of Change, considering how changes in educator knowledge, confidence, and practice interacted with family engagement, implementation supports, and community partnerships. Triangulating evidence helped distinguish isolated findings from patterns appearing across multiple sources.

What We Delivered
  • Multi-year external evaluation
  • Survey development and analysis
  • Longitudinal statistical analyses
  • Focus groups and key-informant interviews
  • Qualitative thematic analysis
  • Data integration across stakeholder groups
  • Theory of Change analysis
  • Data visualizations and accessible reporting
  • Recommendations for implementation and sustainability
  • Guidance for strengthening future evaluation and data infrastructure
The Value

The evaluation helps program leaders move beyond asking simply, “Did it work?” Instead, it examines what appears to be changing, for whom, through what processes, under what conditions, and what is needed to sustain or deepen that change—evidence leaders can use to demonstrate progress, strengthen implementation, guide future investment, and plan for sustainability.

Selected project information is shared as an example of Open Road’s evaluation approach. Detailed findings may be omitted or adapted to protect client and participant confidentiality.

An older couple embracing outdoors
Policy & Systems

Fiscal & Policy Analysis for the Sustainability Planning Project

With the Self-Directed Advocacy Network of Maryland and Collaborative Strategies, Inc.

Policy AnalysisIntellectual & Developmental DisabilitiesSelf-DirectionSystems Change
The Challenge

Planning for the future can be particularly complex for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who rely on family members and other natural supports, especially as caregivers age and support needs change. The Sustainability Planning Project explored promising approaches for strengthening long-term supports for people with IDD who self-direct their services.

Leaders needed to understand not just whether an idea was desirable, but the policy environment, fiscal implications, implementation barriers, and systems infrastructure that could help or hinder adoption.

Our Approach

A qualitative fiscal and policy analysis using a multi-goal policy framework, informed by interviews with national experts and review of relevant policy documents. Promising practices were examined through multiple lenses:

  • Potential benefits
  • Fiscal and resource considerations
  • Policy and regulatory barriers
  • Implementation feasibility
  • Ethical considerations
  • Systems infrastructure
  • Opportunities for state-level action
Looking Beyond Individual Policies

Complex human service challenges rarely sit neatly within a single program, funding stream, or policy. Our analysis examined not only whether individual approaches could work, but what would need to be true within the surrounding system for them to work well.

Making Findings Accessible

Findings were translated into both detailed analysis and plain-language communication so they could be accessible to people with disabilities, families, advocates, service providers, and policymakers.

What We Delivered
  • Fiscal and policy analysis
  • National expert interviews
  • Policy document review
  • Qualitative content analysis
  • Cross-model and systems analysis
  • Identification of implementation barriers and facilitators
  • Plain-language findings
  • Policy and practice recommendations
  • Visual and accessible reporting
The Value

The analysis translated a complex set of policy, fiscal, and implementation questions into practical information to support planning and decision-making. By bringing together research evidence, policy analysis, stakeholder expertise, and attention to implementation, Open Road helped identify not only what changes might be valuable, but what systems would need to do to make those changes possible.

Selected project information is shared as an example of Open Road’s policy and systems analysis. Some findings and details may be omitted to protect project partners and participants.

In the Field

Facilitation, training, and learning together

Beyond evaluation and research projects, our work happens in rooms with people—facilitating sessions, leading trainings, and presenting at conferences.

Two facilitators smiling in front of a whiteboard covered in sticky notes grouped under Health, Well-Being, Meaningful Relationships, and Respect
Stakeholder engagement. Organizing what participants shared into shared themes during a facilitated session.
A conference presentation with an ASL interpreter, as attendees watch the slides
Conference presentations. Accessible, interactive sessions with ASL interpretation.
Colorful Open Road folders surrounding a facilitator's guide
Training & professional development. Custom facilitator guides and participant materials.
Organizations We’ve Partnered With
Best Buddies Maryland Education Development Center Self-Directed Advocacy Network of MD Collaborative Strategies, Inc. Values Into Action National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities

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