How to create effective education surveys (with examples)
Ask the right questions to improve educational outcomes at your school.
Think about a few factors that impact student outcomes: Teachers and administrators. Course offerings and academic tracks. Family involvement in and out of the classroom. Student resources. Social dynamics and education community. Facilities and campus safety. Sports programs.
How do you keep your school running smoothly? Education surveys are a great place to start. The feedback you get will help you prioritize improvements and track your progress over time.
Keep reading to learn which questions to ask students, parents, and faculty. You’ll also find education survey examples and tips for getting the most reliable feedback.
CHAPTER 1: WHY USE EDUCATION SURVEYS
Why should you use education surveys?
Institutions of every size and type use education surveys to improve educational outcomes. Send surveys to anyone involved at your school to:
- Measure teacher and student satisfaction
- Understand parent engagement and priorities
- Recruit parents to volunteer in the classroom
- Analyze educational demographic information
- Track student habits and health
- Create interactive online quizzes
- Gain insight into school climate and bullying
- Get to know and support student learning styles
- Determine the effectiveness of online educational activities
- Conduct instructor and course evaluations
You can also use surveys to understand shifting student sentiment. For example, our recent survey on AI in higher education revealed:
- About 7 in 10 college students have used AI to help with schoolwork
- 61% say they’re concerned about AI replacing the skills and knowledge they’re gaining in college
- 1 in 3 students think AI can teach better than a professor
- Half (50%) of undergraduate students expect a decline in job prospects because of AI
With the right education survey, you can find out what students, parents, and faculty care about, too. Here’s how.
CHAPTER 2: HOW TO CREATE EDUCATION SURVEYS
How do you create an educational survey?
Before you start writing your survey, set a survey goal. Ask yourself: Who do I want to take my survey? What do I want to learn? How will I use this feedback?
Once you answer these questions, you can create your survey.
Use a customizable survey template
Not confident with survey design? Short on time? Sign up for a free SurveyMonkey account and choose from one of our expert-designed education survey templates. Use the template as-is or customize it how you want. Then, send your survey via email, web link, or embed it into your website.
Build your survey with AI
Have an idea for your survey but no questions yet? Use Build with AI to automatically create a survey that meets your needs.
Just tell us what kind of feedback you need, and you’ll get a unique survey. You can edit the survey or use it right away.
Send your own survey in minutes
If you want to write your own questions, use SurveyMonkey to create a survey in minutes. Choose from different question types and write what you want. Or copy and paste your existing questions into your survey. We also have hundreds of prewritten education survey questions ready to drag and drop into your survey.
CHAPTER 3: SURVEY EXAMPLES
Education survey examples
We collaborated with the US Department of Education and the Harvard Graduate School of Education to design surveys that drive educational improvements. Here are a few of our most popular education surveys.
Parent survey for K-12 schools
Survey parents about their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes towards your school. You’ll also learn how parents engage with their kids at home. This feedback can help you better support students and parents in and out of the classroom.
Instructor and course evaluations
Are your university or college instructors meeting students’ needs? Send students an instructor evaluation survey template to learn their perceptions. Ask questions about instructor organization, attentiveness, assignments, and more.
Education demographics survey
Get to know your students and their parents. You can use an education demographics survey to learn more about their background, like which languages they speak at home. The survey results you get can help you build an inclusive, supportive school.
Parent survey for special education
Send parents a survey about their child’s behaviors at home. Does their child struggle with certain tasks? Get distracted? How well do they manage their emotions? The more information you have, the better prepared you’ll be to support students at school.
CHAPTER 4: QUESTION EXAMPLES
Examples of education survey questions
Here are some examples of frequently used education survey questions. For more, check out our list of top student survey questions or search our Question Bank for hundreds of prewritten education survey questions.
What is your highest level of education survey question
If you’re collecting education demographics from students or parents, make sure you use the right questions and answer options. Here’s how to ask for an education level in a survey. Keep your question short and simple: What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Make the education level answer options as inclusive as possible. Our education level survey question covers each grade level, which is why we use the dropdown question type.
Make sure you include “Did not attend school” and allow people to indicate a partial college or graduate school education.
What questions should I ask in a teaching survey?
Here are some teaching survey questions that’ll help you measure student satisfaction:
- How well did your instructor answer students’ questions?
- How comfortable did you feel voicing your opinions in class?
- What improvements would you make to the course?
- How likely are you to continue attending this university next year?
- How much do you think this teacher knows about the class they teach?
- How much does this teacher care that you are learning?
- Do you think this teacher teaches too fast, too slow, or about the right speed?
Find more questions like these in our university student satisfaction, course evaluation, and high school teacher evaluation survey templates.
Special education survey questions
Get to know your students and learn about their biggest needs and challenges. These special education survey questions can help you arrange resources and create educational experiences that will set students up for success.
- How often does your child struggle to get organized for school?
- When working on school activities at home how easily is your child distracted?
- How well does your child manage their emotions?
- On average, how well does your child work independently on learning activities at home?
- How often does your child give up on learning activities that they find hard?
- How confident are you in your ability to help your child deal with their emotions appropriately?
Find more questions like these in our school program fit and learning support survey templates.
CHAPTER 5: TIPS FOR RUNNING EFFECTIVE SURVEYS
3 tips for running effective education surveys
By following survey best practices, you can make it more likely that people will respond. And give you candid, thoughtful answers. Here are our top tips for education surveys.
1. Get creative to get more responses
Unfortunately, not everyone who gets your survey will fill it out. Busy students, parents, teachers, and faculty might want to give you feedback. But they close out your survey intending to respond later (and promptly forget). Use these tips to get people to answer your surveys:
- Students often juggle multiple email addresses and get a lot of spam. Try using other channels to get students to answer your surveys. Post your survey QR code to your learning management system or on your website. Send them a text with a link to your survey. Or set up a device for students to take surveys outside of the classroom, like at a kiosk on campus.
- Set aside time for students to take your survey during class. This way, you’ll have their full attention and focus.
- Parents, teachers, and faculty might respond better to email. You can even automate email reminders for those who received your survey but haven’t taken it yet.
- Need to find participants for your academic research surveys? Use SurveyMonkey Audience for academics to find qualified respondents today.
Related reading: See more tips for engaging students with polls and surveys.
2. Put your survey to the test
Before you send your survey, make sure it’s easy to fill out and error-free. You can preview your survey and fill it out as if you were a respondent. If you want more feedback, you can share your survey with others for review. Here are a few things to look out for:
- Does your question order and survey logic make sense? For example, if a student only takes online classes, make sure you’re not asking them a bunch of questions about their on-campus experience.
- Check your questions to avoid the most common types of survey bias. This will help you get better, more reliable data from your surveys.
- Take your survey as a respondent would. How long does it take to fill out your survey? Are you asking a lot of open-ended questions, which takes more effort? The easier you make it for your respondents, the more (quality) responses you’ll get.
3. Give context and follow up
Whether you’re sending your survey in an email or embedding it into your website, let your respondents know this important information:
- Who you are. Consider adding your school logo or colors, which looks more professional and can build trust with your respondents.
- Why you want feedback. People may be more likely to tell you what they think if they understand why it’s important. Be clear about your feedback deadline, especially if you’re using the survey to make a time-sensitive decision.
- How you’ll use the data–and if it’s anonymous. You can enable anonymous responses and let people know, which can help you get more candid feedback.
- Next steps. Are you going to share what you learn? When? Your survey respondents might be more willing to give you their time if they know you’re taking their feedback seriously.
Ready to get started? We want to help your school make the grade. SurveyMonkey offers discounts for students and educators.
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