Best questions for parent survey about assessment and testing

Here are some of the best questions for a parent survey about assessment and testing, plus tips on how to craft them for deeper feedback. We at Specific can help you quickly build a smart, engaging survey in seconds using our conversational AI tools.

Best open-ended questions for parent survey about assessment and testing

Open-ended questions are a goldmine for honest, nuanced feedback—especially from parents. These types of questions work best when you want to understand experiences, opinions, or unexpected pain points rather than just collect data. When parents can share details in their own words, we learn what’s deeply important to them and sometimes hear stories we never would have imagined. Plus, survey research shows that open questions drive higher-quality insights, especially when AI asks great follow-ups to clarify ambiguous responses[1].

1. What aspects of the school’s assessment and testing process do you appreciate most, and why?

2. What concerns, if any, do you have about how your child is assessed at school?

3. Can you describe a time when you felt your child’s strengths or weaknesses were accurately identified by the current assessment methods?

4. In your view, how well does the school communicate assessment results and what could be improved?

5. How informed do you feel about the different types of assessments your child takes?

6. What changes would you most like to see in the school’s testing or grading system?

7. What information or resources would help you better support your child’s learning based on assessments?

8. Have there been assessments that you felt did not reflect your child’s abilities? Please explain.

9. How do you think standardized tests impact your child’s motivation and confidence?

10. What would your ideal assessment approach look like at this school?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for parent survey about assessment and testing

Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal when we need to quantify opinions, benchmark satisfaction, or start a structured discussion. Sometimes, it’s easier for parents to select from clear options rather than composing full-text answers—this can help break the ice and set up follow-up questions for richer insight. Quantitative results also let us spot trends at a glance, which is essential when you want to compare data over time or across groups. AI-driven surveys have shown far better completion rates (70%–90%) versus traditional forms (10%–30%), largely thanks to well-crafted, concise choices that keep respondents engaged[1].

Question: How satisfied are you with the way assessment results are shared with you?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: How confident are you that the school’s assessments accurately reflect your child’s abilities?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Neutral

• Not very confident

• Not at all confident

Question: What type of assessment feedback do you find most helpful?

• Written comments

• Numerical scores/grades

• Face-to-face meetings

• Online reports

• Other

When to followup with "why?" Even with a simple multiple-choice response, asking “why?” on an answer that piques your interest can dig up context you might never see otherwise. For example, if a parent selects “dissatisfied,” a follow-up like, “Can you share why you feel dissatisfied with how results are shared?” often leads to actionable fixes and a better understanding of underlying issues.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Letting parents select “Other” in a multiple-choice question invites valuable feedback you might not have predicted. A follow-up question like, “Please describe what other type of feedback works best for your family,” uncovers unique needs or preferences you can address in future updates.

NPS question for parent survey about assessment and testing

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a tried-and-true way to measure overall sentiment. NPS asks parents how likely they are to recommend the school’s assessment approach to others, offering a quick temperature check for advocacy and loyalty. For parent surveys on assessment and testing, this gives us a baseline of trust—and, when combined with follow-ups for detractors and promoters, pinpoints what’s working and what’s not. You can instantly generate an NPS-format survey tailored to parents and assessment by trying our NPS survey generator.

The power of follow-up questions

If you want rich, detailed feedback—not just surface-level answers—follow-up questions are absolutely essential. We’ve seen that adding automatic, AI-generated followups to surveys can dramatically improve data quality by clarifying ambiguous responses, probing for reasons, and uncovering stories behind the numbers. If you’re curious how automatic followups work, we go deep on the feature in our automatic AI follow-up questions guide.

Specific’s AI asks tailored follow-up questions in real time, just like a smart researcher. This happens instantly in the chat, based on what the parent has already told us. That means richer insights every time. An added benefit—AI-powered surveys reduce abandonment rates to just 15–25% (compared with 40–55% on traditional forms), simply because the conversation feels more relevant and engaging[2].

• Parent: “I don’t like how tests are reported.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share more about what you’d like to see changed in the test reports?”

How many followups to ask? Usually, two or three follow-ups will give you the context you need without wearing out your respondents. Specific lets you set a maximum follow-up depth and will gracefully skip to the next question once you have what you need.

This makes it a conversational survey, where parents feel heard and engaged—as if they’re chatting with a real person. It’s what makes AI surveys dramatically more effective than rigid forms.

AI survey response analysis is straightforward, even when you get hundreds of open-ended replies. Our AI-powered analysis tools make it simple to summarize, find themes, and “chat” with your data. You’ll never be overwhelmed by unstructured text again.

These dynamic follow-up questions are new for many—try generating a parent survey with us and see how the conversation unfolds in real time!

How to compose a prompt for GPT to create survey questions for parents

If you want to use ChatGPT or a similar AI to generate survey questions, prompts matter a lot. For a basic start, you might type:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Parent survey about Assessment And Testing.

But if you give the AI extra context—the grade levels, your goals, any specific challenges—your questions will be sharper and more relevant. For example:

I’m a school administrator at a K-8 school, interested in parents’ views on assessment and testing, especially around how results are communicated. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that will help me understand pain points and improvement areas.

After seeing the initial questions, try organizing them for focus:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Once categories are clear, go deeper where you need to:

Generate 10 questions for categories like Communication of Results, Testing Fairness, and Parental Involvement.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are surveys that feel like you’re chatting to a friendly, knowledgeable researcher—not filling in a boring, static form. They leverage AI to ask questions, listen, and follow up in natural language, making the feedback process less intimidating for parents and more insightful for schools. This approach does more than feel good—it works: conversational AI surveys have completion and engagement rates double those of static forms, and they capture more insightful, concrete feedback[1][2]. For more on their creation, check out our guide to building surveys for parents.

Why use AI for parent surveys? Traditional surveys are rigid, slow to set up, and produce shallow or incomplete feedback. An AI survey example shows how adaptive, conversational questions boost completion, catch details you’d miss, and instantly surface themes for action.

Specific delivers a world-class experience for conversational surveys—making gathering feedback simple, quick, and satisfying for both school staff and parents alike.

See this assessment and testing survey example now

Experience interactive, adaptable surveys for parents—designed to drive higher completion, richer insights, and real change. Try creating yours in seconds and get better answers today!