Here are some of the best questions for a teacher survey about student engagement, plus quick tips for writing them. You can build a conversational survey like this in seconds with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for teacher survey about student engagement

Open-ended questions help us uncover deeper motivations and stories behind student engagement. They’re great for rich, qualitative insights—perfect when you want teachers to elaborate freely. However, be aware that open-ended questions can have higher nonresponse rates: Pew Research Center found 18% of open-ended survey items are skipped, versus just 1-2% for closed-ended ones [1]. So, use them strategically—especially in the middle or end of a survey when respondents are comfortable.

1. What strategies do you find most effective in engaging students during lessons?

2. Can you describe a recent moment when your students seemed particularly engaged? What made that possible?

3. What challenges do you face when trying to boost student engagement in your classroom?

4. How do you adapt your teaching methods to encourage participation from quieter students?

5. What classroom activities or formats seem to result in the most active student involvement?

6. In your experience, what factors outside the classroom affect your students’ engagement levels?

7. How do you measure or recognize genuine student engagement versus mere compliance?

8. What support, resources, or tools would help you foster greater engagement in your classes?

9. How does student engagement differ between in-person and remote learning environments for you?

10. If you could change one thing to improve student engagement, what would it be and why?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for teacher survey about student engagement

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you need structured, quantifiable data. They’re fast to answer and increase response accuracy—which is supported by a YouGov study showing higher accuracy rates with single-select versus multiple-select questions [3]. Teachers can pick one answer quickly, making it ideal for kicking off a survey or quantifying widespread trends. This style is great for sensitive topics too, where long write-ins might feel like work.

Here are three strong examples:

Question: How would you rate overall student engagement in your classroom this term?

• Very high

• Somewhat high

• Neutral

• Somewhat low

• Very low

Question: What is the most common barrier to student engagement you observe?

• Lack of interest in material

• Distractions (e.g., devices, environment)

• Social/emotional challenges

• Preparation or skill gaps

• Other

Question: Which classroom activity do your students participate in most enthusiastically?

• Group projects

• Class discussions

• Hands-on activities

• Individual assignments

• Presentations

When to followup with "why?" Most single-choice questions reveal a pattern but not the reasons behind it. The moment a teacher selects an option, asking, “Why did you choose this?” or “Can you elaborate?” encourages richer context. For example, if someone chooses “Social/emotional challenges” as a barrier, the survey can immediately ask, “What kinds of social/emotional challenges impact your students most?” This turns a simple response into actionable feedback—without feeling forced.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add "Other" when you want to capture experiences your choices may miss. Some barriers or preferred activities are unique to an individual or context. Following up on "Other" lets teachers voice specific concerns or highlight hidden trends.

NPS question for teacher surveys measuring student engagement

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple, powerful way to gauge overall sentiment. For teacher surveys about student engagement, it can be adapted like this: “How likely are you to recommend your approach for engaging students to a fellow teacher?” Teachers answer on a 0–10 scale. This gives you a clear, numerical view and, paired with a “why” follow-up, unlocks specific drivers behind high (or low) advocacy. NPS works especially well because it’s familiar, fast, and segments responses for better analysis. If you want to skip building your own, jump straight to an NPS survey made for teachers.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions make a survey dynamic and insightful. With automated AI follow-ups, we can probe deeper instantly, saving tons of time compared to chasing feedback over email. That’s one reason Specific’s approach stands out: the survey feels like a real conversation, allowing teachers to clarify and expand in their natural language.

• Teacher: I notice students aren’t paying attention after lunch.

• AI follow-up: What usually happens after lunch that seems to affect students’ attention most?

Without such follow-ups, we’d miss crucial details—ending up with vague, hard-to-interpret answers.

How many followups to ask? Usually, asking 2–3 follow-up questions gets you the depth you want, but always set the survey to move on once the response becomes clear. In Specific, you can fine-tune this for each question.

This makes it a conversational survey—not just a form. The conversation itself uncovers context and insights you rarely get with static questions.

AI response analysis or how to analyze responses: Even with lots of unstructured text, it’s easy to summarize themes and findings using tools like AI survey response analysis. It’s both fast and accurate—no need for tedious manual coding.

Automated follow-up questions are a new survey concept—try generating a survey to see the difference in experience first-hand.

Prompt ideas for ChatGPT or GPT survey creation

AI tools like ChatGPT work best with clear context. If you want to brainstorm questions for your teacher survey, try this:

Simple prompt for open-ended questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for teacher survey about student engagement.

But context drives quality—describe your goal, grade level, or type of engagement you want to assess, for even better results:

I’m a middle school principal designing a teacher survey to understand why some students are less engaged in science classes. Give me 10 open-ended questions to help uncover barriers and potential improvements.

Next, have the AI categorize your list:

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

Finally, focus on a theme you care about. For example:

Generate 10 questions for the category “barriers to engagement.”

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys feel like a smart interview, not a tedious form. Teachers answer in their own words and get real-time, context-aware prompts, leading to deeper insights. Unlike traditional surveys—where you set fixed questions and hope for the best—AI survey generators like Specific craft adaptive surveys customized by your goals, respondents’ answers, and even your tone preferences.

Here’s a mini-table—from experience, this drives the point home:

Why use AI for teacher surveys? Because it lets you create, launch, and analyze conversational surveys in minutes, not hours. AI survey examples—like the ones you generate with Specific—make response collection less stressful and much more useful. Teachers appreciate surveys that feel adaptive, respectful of their time, and genuinely insightful.

If you want to go step-by-step, check out our guide to creating a teacher survey for student engagement.

See this student engagement survey example now

Get instant, actionable insights from teachers using conversational surveys built with Specific. See how engaging, adaptive questions and AI-powered analysis can transform your approach—start your own survey today and experience the difference.