Here are some of the best questions for a parent survey about school leadership, along with practical tips on how to create them. If you’re ready to dive in, you can build a conversational survey in seconds—it’s that simple with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for parent survey about school leadership
Open-ended questions are the gold standard when you want real, qualitative insight. They give parents the freedom to express what really matters—helpful for moving beyond yes/no thinking. Use these when you want feedback in parents’ own words, spot unexpected trends, or gather honest opinions you might miss with only fixed choices.
Here are 10 of the best open-ended questions for a parent survey on school leadership:
What do you appreciate most about the school’s leadership team?
How does the administration communicate with parents, and what works best for you?
Can you describe a situation when school leaders handled a challenge well?
How could school leadership improve your and your child’s experience?
What goals do you think the leadership should focus on in the coming year?
Are there areas where you feel the administration could be more transparent?
What could the leadership do to foster a stronger school community?
Can you suggest ways the leaders could make you feel more included in decisions?
What is one thing you wish the school administration understood better about your family’s needs?
Share any additional thoughts or feedback about the leadership team.
As parents report high levels of satisfaction—95% in one district agree the administration is effective at running the school—the real value comes in hearing specifics about what’s working and what can be even better [1].
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for parent survey about school leadership
Multiple-choice questions are ideal when you want to quantify experiences, compare results, or start a deeper conversation. They make it easy for parents to respond quickly, especially on mobile devices. You can always follow up with a more probing question to dive deeper into the why.
Here are three great single-select multiple-choice examples:
Question: How satisfied are you with the school leadership’s communication?
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neutral
Somewhat dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: How approachable do you find the school administration?
Extremely approachable
Somewhat approachable
Not so approachable
Not at all approachable
Other
Question: What area should the leadership prioritize next year?
Improving communication
Fostering community
Student safety and well-being
Academic support
Other
When to follow up with "why?" Always add a follow-up question when someone selects an answer where their motivation isn’t clear. For example, if a parent chooses “Somewhat dissatisfied,” immediately following up with “Can you share what led to your dissatisfaction?” uncovers actionable feedback you wouldn’t get otherwise.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Adding “Other” ensures you don’t force parents into a box—and it unlocks feedback you might never have considered. It’s smart to pair “Other” with a follow-up so they can explain in their own words, revealing unexpected insights that structured options miss.
According to recent studies, more than 60% of parents believe there’s room for improvement in how school staff interact, which can impact trust. Letting parents expand on their multiple-choice responses is critical for getting this trust-building feedback [2].
NPS question for school leadership: useful or not?
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a proven way to gauge overall parent sentiment and loyalty. For school leadership, it’s a quick indicator of trust and satisfaction—simply ask parents how likely they are to recommend the school to others based on their experience with leadership. This metric helps you benchmark and track improvements over time, especially as parental loyalty correlates closely with perceived school reputation and strong leadership [3].
If you’d like to dig deeper or instantly generate a ready-to-use NPS survey for your parent community, try this NPS survey builder.
The power of follow-up questions
If you want to reach clarity and actionable insight, follow-up questions are your best tool. Instead of collecting hundreds of vague or incomplete parent responses and having to chase down details by email, Specific’s AI follows up naturally, right in the conversation. If parents mention dissatisfaction, confusion, or praise, the AI probes just as an expert interviewer would—contextually and in real time.
Parent: “I don’t always feel included in school decisions.”
AI follow-up: “Could you share an example of a time when you wanted to be involved, but weren’t?”
How many follow-ups to ask? The sweet spot is usually 2-3 follow-up questions, but it’s important to let parents move on once you’ve captured what you need. With Specific, you can set these limits so the conversation feels natural, never tedious.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a one-way form, follow-ups transform the exchange into a genuine conversation—parents feel heard, and you receive richer detail.
AI-powered response analysis makes it incredibly easy to review all that unstructured parent feedback. Even with hundreds of open-ended answers, AI can summarize and highlight themes at a glance. See more about AI-enabled response analysis here.
Follow-up questions truly set conversational surveys apart. Try generating your own parent survey to experience just how deep the insights can go—it’s a game-changer for clarity and context.
How to compose a prompt for ChatGPT (or any AI) to generate questions
Writing a great survey question prompt for ChatGPT is easier than you think. Start simple, then add detail to give the AI better context:
To begin, ask:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for parent survey about school leadership.
But the more context you add, the better. Add a bit about your school, your parent community, or the leadership challenges you face—for example:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a parent survey about school leadership. Our school recently expanded, and communication processes are evolving. We want candid feedback about parent trust, involvement, and safety concerns.
After your initial questions, take things further with:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
That way, you can focus on the areas you care about most. Then, for each category you want to dive into, use:
Generate 10 questions for categories like communication, community involvement, leadership visibility.
This iterative approach lets you create a detailed, focused survey tailored to your needs.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys feel less like a static form and more like talking with a human. Instead of a rigid set of boxes, parents are guided through a natural back-and-forth where their answers lead to tailored follow-ups. That’s the core advantage of using an AI survey builder like Specific.
Let’s compare:
Manual Survey | AI-Generated Survey |
|---|---|
Static, one-size-fits-all questions | Dynamic, adapts based on each reply |
Follow-ups require manual review (or none at all) | Immediate context-aware probing and clarifications |
Limited insights from unstructured answers | AI summarizes, analyzes, and highlights key takeaways automatically |
Difficult for parents to engage on mobile | Mobile-friendly chat interface, feels like texting |
Why use AI for parent surveys? Simply put: AI survey generation gives you the best of both worlds—easy setup, real conversations, and superpowered analysis. Instead of manually building each question (and reviewing endless text), you tap into expertise and let AI do the heavy lifting. If you’re curious, you can read our full guide on how to create a parent survey about school leadership.
Specific’s conversational survey platform is purpose-built for best-in-class user experience, so both survey creators and parents enjoy a smooth and engaging process. Whether you want a tailored survey template, open-ended exploration, or instant AI summary, you’re covered. If you’re looking for an “AI survey example,” “AI survey builder,” or an “AI survey generator” specifically for parent-school leadership feedback, Specific ticks all the boxes.
See this school leadership survey example now
Explore how a smart parent survey about school leadership can uncover clear, actionable feedback—faster and more personally than ever. Create yours to unlock honest insights and empower your school’s leadership journey today!