Here are some of the best questions for a teacher survey about professional learning communities, plus our tips on crafting each one. If you want to save time, you can build your own survey in seconds with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for teacher surveys about professional learning communities
Open-ended questions are powerful because they let teachers share exactly what’s on their mind. They’re perfect if you want honest feedback, actionable stories, or to uncover needs you didn’t anticipate. The catch? They sometimes get skipped more frequently than closed-ended questions—nonresponse can be as high as 18% or even over 50% in some large studies.[1] Still, the insights are often worth the trade-off, and 76% of respondents actually add unique details that structured questions would miss.[2]
What do you value most about participating in your professional learning community?
Can you describe a specific moment when your PLC directly impacted your teaching?
What challenges have you faced in engaging with your PLC this year?
What support or resources would make your PLC more effective?
How has working within your PLC changed your classroom practice?
What barriers prevent full participation in your PLC meetings or activities?
If you could change one thing about your PLC experience, what would it be?
How do you share what you learn in PLCs with colleagues outside your group?
Describe a memorable collaboration or project that emerged from your PLC.
What advice would you give to a teacher new to your PLC?
Open-ended teacher surveys can reveal experiences and needs we’d otherwise never hear.[3] They’re a smart way to capture the unexpected.
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for teacher surveys about professional learning communities
Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want to quantify feedback or make it easier for teachers to respond, especially if they’re in a hurry. They’re also a great launching pad for deeper conversations: a teacher selects an option, then follow-up probes the "why" behind their choice. For example, it helps lessen survey fatigue and gives you scalable, easy-to-analyze data.[3]
Question: How often do you participate in your PLC meetings?
Weekly
Biweekly
Monthly
Rarely
Question: Which aspect of your PLC do you find most valuable?
Collaborative lesson planning
Peer observation/feedback
Resource sharing
Data analysis
Other
Question: Overall, how would you rate the effectiveness of your PLC?
Very effective
Somewhat effective
Not effective
Not sure
When to follow up with "why?" It’s smart to ask "why?" after a respondent selects an option, especially if you want richer context. For example, if a teacher says their PLC is "not effective," a quick follow-up (“Why do you feel your PLC isn’t effective?”) uncovers actionable details fast.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include "Other" when your list could miss unique perspectives. It’s a safety net—and when paired with a follow-up like “Can you share what you meant by ‘Other’?”, you unlock insights you hadn’t considered.
Should you include a Net Promoter Score (NPS) question?
NPS is a classic, research-backed metric for loyalty and advocacy—and it works for teacher professional learning communities too. The structure is simple: “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend your PLC to a colleague?” This question quantifies satisfaction, giving you a single score to benchmark over time, and it’s easy to compare across teams or years. For a ready-to-launch example, see the NPS survey for teachers about PLCs.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions—especially conversational, AI-guided ones—can transform a teacher survey. When you use automated follow-ups, you gather context in real time, just like a skilled researcher would. In fact, studies show that dynamic follow-ups yield longer, richer responses packed with actionable information—without making respondents feel overwhelmed.[4] When we let the AI ask clarifying questions adaptively, we almost always get better data.
If you want more details about how these work, check out our deep-dive on automatic AI follow-up questions.
Teacher: “PLC meetings are useful, but sometimes a waste of time.”
AI follow-up: “Could you give an example of a meeting that felt especially useful or, conversely, felt unproductive?”
Teacher: “I don’t attend much anymore.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what’s holding you back from attending PLC meetings more regularly?”
How many follow-ups to ask? We find that 2–3 targeted follow-up questions is ideal. It’s enough to unpack most answers without wearing out teachers’ patience. With Specific, you can set exactly how persistent you want the AI to be, or have it move on when you’ve collected what you needed.
This makes it a conversational survey: With each follow-up, teachers feel like they’re having a real conversation, not just filling out a generic form. That’s the core of a truly conversational survey.
AI survey response analysis, open-ended question summaries, qualitative data: Even if you collect hundreds of open-text replies, it’s easier than ever to analyze responses from teacher surveys using AI. Specific’s AI analysis tools quickly surface themes, insights, and even red-flag issues—no manual sorting required.
These automated follow-up questions change the entire survey game. The best way to see it in action is to generate your own survey and experience just how smart and dynamic it can be.
How to prompt ChatGPT (or any GPT) to generate great teacher survey questions about professional learning communities
Creating your own question set with an AI is all about giving enough context for better results. Start simple:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for teacher surveys about professional learning communities.
But you’ll get even better questions if you layer in details about your school context, your survey goal, and who will answer:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for teacher surveys about professional learning communities at a K-8 school where many teachers are new to PLCs. Our goal is to improve collaboration and share best classroom practices.
Once you have a question list, ask the AI to group them for you:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Pick the category (or categories) you want to dive deeper into, then guide the AI:
Generate 10 questions about PLC meeting effectiveness and peer collaboration.
This is exactly the magic Specific’s AI survey editor brings—if you want to instantly rework, add, or adapt your survey, just describe what you want changed and the AI handles the rest.
What is a conversational survey? (and why AI survey generation is a game-changer)
A conversational survey is nothing like the old days of clicking through static forms. Instead, it feels like an interactive chat—where every teacher’s answer can prompt a thoughtful follow-up, where nuance isn’t lost, and where the survey feels responsive, not robotic. This tech is unlocking higher engagement, better quality data, and richer stories.[5]
Manual surveys | AI-generated/conversational surveys |
|---|---|
Static forms, limited branching | Real-time, adaptive conversation with rich follow-up |
Lots of skipped questions | Higher engagement and completion |
Manual sifting through long text replies | AI summarizes and distills answers instantly |
Time-consuming to create or edit | Instant survey creation with AI generator |
One-size-fits-all | Personalized to context, goals, audience |
Why use AI for teacher surveys? The benefit is clear: fast survey creation, deeper responses, smarter follow-ups, and AI-powered analysis. AI survey examples show it’s easy to go from a blank slate to a fully customized, conversational experience in seconds. It’s not just easier for you—it’s a million times more engaging for teachers to answer.
If you want to learn more about the workflow, we cover each step in our guide to survey creation for professional learning communities.
Specific offers a best-in-class user experience when it comes to conversational surveys, making the whole process engaging for both teachers and survey creators—right from question generation to instant theme and insight extraction.
See this professional learning communities survey example now
Explore how a conversational, AI-powered survey for teachers can surface rich, actionable insights about professional learning communities. Get started—see the possibilities and start collecting the feedback that really matters.