ASQ Developmental Screening Programs
Promoting the Use of Developmental and Social Emotional Screeners Among Early Childhood Programs to Support School Readiness with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and ASQ Social-Emotional tool (ASQ:SE)
- Developing a multi-year program designed to improve the quality of early childhood education in Fairfax County, VA set to begin in 2021, running through 2023
- Partnering with Fairfax Futures and Fairfax County’s Office For Children
- Purchasing ASQ-3 and ASQ:SE-2 kits for early childhood care providers to train educators virtually, to increase fidelity of testing, and to ultimately test more children in the county from birth to 5; and to build out the ASQ Enterprise system throughout the county to better manage data in a more systemic way
- Program is directly linked to the Fairfax County Equitable School Readiness Strategic Plan and to the J2W Foundation Strategic Plan IMPACT.2023



Measures of Performance
For more information, please see Data Analysis section at the bottom of the page
Data Analysis
- Goal: To expand the use of the ASQ developmental screening tool among early childcare providers and caregivers across Fairfax County, VA.
- The ASQ training program is being implemented by the Fairfax County-based Fairfax Futures non-profit organization, in partnership with Fairfax County’s Office for Children.
- Closing out its second year, the program is currently measuring several output indicators:
- The end-of-calendar year 2022 cumulative target was to train an initial cohort of 145 educators, with a mix of both home-based and center-based participants. By the end of this second year, Fairfax Futures was able to train 295 educators in the use of the ASQ-3 and the ASQ:SE-2, exceeding this goal by over 100%; thus being scored a health score of “green.”
- The second-year cumulative target was to enroll at least 90 educators with the ASQ online Enterprise data collection system. Thus far, Fairfax Futures brought in 48 education programs (meeting slightly over 50% of our target) and will continue to promote and communicate the importance of the system throughout the county. This metric was scored a “yellow.”
- The second-year cumulative target was to increase the number of children screened as a result of more programs using the ASQ tool. The goal for ASQ-3 screening for year two is 2,000 children, with 1,181 screened thus far. The goal for the ASQ:SE-2 screening for year two is 1,500 children, with 989 screened thus far. While we have not met this goal to date (scored “yellow”), we are seeing rapid growth in the numbers of children screened, which is a positive step for the program.
- The second-year cumulative target for getting parents engaged with the ASQ Enterprise Family Access tool was 600 families. We have exceeded that goal by bringing in 811 families, a 35% increase, thus earning a “green” health score.
- In assessing our outcome measurements, we are analyzing three areas:
- We want to see an increase in, not only the number of children screened, but in the number of children identified with a developmental challenge actually being referred for services (in this case, with ITC, or Infant Toddler Connection). Our goal is to see at least 90% of all children screened and in need of services receiving those services. Initially, that proved the case, but has recently dropped from a high of 92% to 78%, thus receiving a “yellow” score.
- Lastly, over time, we hope to see a decrease in the overall number of children needing further services after receiving supports from ITC. Looking at the ASQ-3, we see a positive decrease from 17% to 5% (“green”) and, with the ASQ-SE, we see a positive decrease from 5% to 2% (“green”).