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Best questions for teacher survey about differentiated instruction

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Adam Sabla

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Aug 19, 2025

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Here are some of the best questions for a teacher survey about differentiated instruction, plus tips for crafting high-impact survey questions. You can build a teacher survey on differentiated instruction in seconds with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for teacher survey about differentiated instruction

Open-ended questions shine when we want to explore nuanced experiences or collect actionable, detailed feedback. They let respondents expand on what’s really working, what’s not, and why. Research confirms that open-ended questions spark meaningful improvements—one study found that about 50% of topics surfaced from open-ended responses were actionable, enabling targeted teaching improvements and not just general critiques. [1]

  1. What strategies do you find most effective for implementing differentiated instruction in your classroom?

  2. Can you describe a recent lesson where you successfully differentiated instruction? What made it effective?

  3. How do you assess individual student needs when planning for differentiated instruction?

  4. What challenges do you regularly face when trying to differentiate instruction for all students?

  5. What professional development or resources would help you feel more confident with differentiation?

  6. Can you share a time when differentiated instruction led to noticeable student progress?

  7. How does your approach to differentiation vary across subjects or grade levels?

  8. Which classroom tools or technologies do you use to support differentiated instruction?

  9. How do you involve students in their own differentiated learning paths?

  10. What feedback do you most frequently get from students or parents about your differentiated instruction methods?

Incorporating open-ended questions like these leads to richer feedback and more targeted improvements. When we aim for real, actionable change, there’s no contest—open ends deliver the depth we need.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for teacher survey about differentiated instruction

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for situations where we need to quantify opinions or quickly identify patterns. They make it easier for respondents to choose among a set of defined options without overthinking, which can get the conversation rolling—especially for participants who might struggle with phrasing an open-ended answer.

However, we know from research that multiple-choice alone isn’t enough: 70% of teachers report that multiple-choice questions miss multi-dimensional insights, especially in evaluating complex skills like numeracy. [2] They’re a good primer, but always benefit from follow-up.

Here are three well-crafted single-select multiple-choice questions for a teacher survey about differentiated instruction:

Question: How often do you integrate differentiated instruction strategies into your weekly lessons?

  • Every day

  • Several times a week

  • Rarely

  • Never

Question: Which aspect of differentiated instruction do you find most challenging?

  • Assessment and grouping

  • Resource constraints

  • Student engagement

  • Time management

  • Other

Question: Which student needs are hardest to address with differentiation in your classroom?

  • Learning disabilities

  • Advanced/gifted learners

  • Cultural/language differences

  • Motivation issues

  • Other

When to follow up with "why?" Multiple-choice questions give us a feel for where the issues or trends are—but not the story behind them. After a respondent makes a selection, always consider asking "Why is this aspect most challenging for you?" to dig into context, motivations, and actionable insights.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Adding "Other" opens the door for answers we didn’t anticipate, letting teachers share unique challenges or perspectives. A follow-up question such as “Can you explain?” can reveal issues not considered in the original design—and that’s where the often-overlooked gold lies.

Should you use an NPS-style question in a teacher survey about differentiated instruction?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) asks respondents to rate how likely they are to recommend a concept—in this case, differentiated instruction—to a colleague. It’s simple yet powerful for measuring both overall sentiment and satisfaction. For teacher surveys on differentiated instruction, an NPS-style question helps us gauge advocacy and direct where support is still needed:

  • “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend differentiated instruction practices to other teachers?”

This single score makes it easy to benchmark sentiment and segment follow-up for promoters, detractors, or those on the fence. For inspiration, see this NPS survey for teachers about differentiated instruction.

The power of follow-up questions

There’s nothing quite as valuable as following up a response with more thoughtful questions. Using automated follow-up questions with Specific does the heavy lifting for you, so you don’t miss out on the “why,” “how,” or “what happened next.” Our AI can ask clarifying or deepening questions in real time, adjusting to each respondent’s context—like a skilled interviewer.

  • Teacher: “I find it hard to differentiate for gifted learners.”

  • AI follow-up: “Can you share a specific example of a challenge you faced or a strategy you tried with gifted students?”

That second question is where insights take shape. Without it, a single short answer could remain unclear or not lead to meaningful action. Follow-ups help capture intent, clarify ambiguity, and surface unexpected ideas, all while saving you the back-and-forth of manual follow-up (like chasing clarifications via email).

How many followups to ask? In practice, asking 2–3 follow-ups will get you most of the way there—enough to clarify and deepen understanding, without exhausting your respondents. With Specific, you can control when to “move on” as soon as you’ve gathered what you need, making your survey efficient and respondent-friendly.

This makes it a conversational survey. The experience feels like a real chat, not a form. Teachers engage because it’s natural and dynamic—turning a survey into a meaningful conversation.

AI survey response analysis is straightforward: even with lots of unstructured text from open-ended and followup questions, AI-powered analysis digests themes, clusters feedback, and lets you interact with the findings instantly. No more manual coding or lost ideas!

If you haven’t tried automated followup questions yet, generate a differentiated instruction survey and see how easily deeper insights flow when the survey is actually a conversation.

How to prompt ChatGPT or AI to generate teacher survey questions on differentiated instruction

Getting great survey questions from AI like ChatGPT is all about how you prompt. Start simple, and then tune for deeper context. For example, try:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Teacher survey about Differentiated Instruction.

But AI always performs best with a bit of context. Try adding detail about your role, goals, and context:

I am a curriculum coordinator designing a survey for K-12 teachers who are implementing differentiated instruction. My goal is to understand their main challenges, resource needs, and best practices. Suggest 10 open-ended questions that will help me gather actionable insights for future teacher training sessions.

Next, have the AI organize what it gave you:

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

Finally, pick the categories most relevant to your school or context and ask for more depth:

Generate 10 questions for the categories “Challenges,” “Assessing student needs,” and “Resource requirements.”

This approach guides AI to produce tailored, high-impact questions, not just generic lists.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is one where questions and answers flow like a real discussion, often powered by AI that adapts questions in real time. This unlocks far richer, more actionable insights than static forms or email surveys. Why? Because you capture nuance, clarify responses instantly, and collect stories—not just checkboxes.

Why does this matter? Here's a quick look:

Manual Survey

AI-Generated Conversational Survey

Rigid, fixed questions

Adapts, asks follow-ups, clarifies in real time

Long creation time

Instant, from AI survey builder

Non-interactive forms

Feels like a chat—mobile and desktop friendly

Results hard to analyze when qualitative

AI summarizes and organizes responses for you

Why use AI for teacher surveys? Because AI-generated surveys turn static forms into living conversations, surface deeper feedback, and make response analysis a breeze. You can even create a teacher survey about differentiated instruction with AI in minutes, using a preset or your own custom context.

Ready to experience it? Specific is known for best-in-class user experience—making both survey creation and completion as smooth and engaging as possible for teachers and admins alike.

See this differentiated instruction survey example now

Start gathering focused, actionable feedback with a survey that adapts to your needs. Bring conversations to life and make data-driven improvements in your teaching community today.

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Sources

  1. Higher Education Research & Development. Open-ended questions in teacher feedback surveys lead to actionable and targeted improvements.

  2. Indonesian Journal of Educational Assessment. Multiple-choice questions less effective for assessing complex skills according to teachers.

  3. Higher Education Research & Development. Incorporating open-ended questions leads to richer, more detailed feedback for teacher improvement.

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.