This article will guide you on how to create a teacher survey about professional learning communities. You can build the perfect survey in seconds using Specific’s AI-driven tools—just generate a conversational survey and let the platform do the rest.
Steps to create a survey for teachers about professional learning communities
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific—it really is that easy.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
Honestly, you don’t even need to read further if you just want the survey—AI does the heavy lifting and brings in expert knowledge, including asking your respondents follow-up questions to reveal deeper insights.
But if you want to dive into the “why” and “how,” here’s everything you need to know about creating effective teacher surveys about professional learning communities. Interested in creating other types of surveys? Try the AI survey generator—it works for any audience or topic.
Why teacher surveys on professional learning communities matter
We know from experience and research that running meaningful teacher surveys on professional learning communities is too important to skip. The data is clear: teacher involvement in professional learning communities (PLCs) shows a robust positive correlation with teacher job satisfaction and performance [1]. In one cross-country study of over 127,000 teachers, access to high-quality PLCs went hand-in-hand with improved job satisfaction [2].
If you’re not running these surveys, you’re missing out on:
Insights into what teachers really value in PLCs—so you can focus your improvement efforts on what matters most
Critical feedback on shared values, leadership, support structures, and actual practice—all of which drive teaching quality and performance [1]
Signals that highlight what’s working (and not working) in your PLC ecosystem
The importance of a teacher recognition survey or PLC feedback can’t be overstated. Skipping them leaves blind spots—you don’t get to learn how PLCs shape teacher motivation, skill growth, or enthusiasm for new teaching methods [1]. Well-designed PLCs actually drive measurable improvements in classroom outcomes and professional satisfaction.
So, teacher feedback isn’t just a box-checking exercise; it’s a real driver of positive change in education communities.
What makes a good survey about professional learning communities
A good survey on professional learning communities for teachers hinges on asking clear, unbiased questions that truly invite teachers to share their unique perspectives. Ambiguous, jargon-laden, or leading items will only generate frustration and unreliable data. The best surveys are:
Conversational—so teachers feel comfortable and respond honestly
Free of bias or hidden assumptions
Short, focused, but rich enough to uncover actionable insights
Here’s a quick visual showing the difference:
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Leading: “How great is your PLC?” | Neutral: “How does your PLC help you in daily teaching?” |
The true measure of a quality survey? High quantity and quality of responses. If your survey gets a flood of thoughtful feedback, you’re on the right track. Low or one-word answers mean the survey isn’t connecting.
Types of questions to ask in a teacher survey about professional learning communities
Crafting powerful questions is key to unlocking what teachers really think about professional learning communities. There’s no one-size-fits-all format, but some question types stand out for depth and clarity.
Open-ended questions offer the richest qualitative feedback. They help uncover why teachers feel the way they do, capture stories, and expose unexpected opportunities or pain points (learn more about crafting these in our guide to the best questions for teacher PLC surveys). Examples:
What aspect of your professional learning community do you find most valuable?
Can you share a time when your PLC directly influenced your teaching?
Single-select multiple-choice questions are best for tracking themes across a large group, and work well when you need structured insights for comparison. Example:
Which PLC component do you engage with most often?
Collaborative lesson planning
Peer observations
Professional development workshops
Online resource sharing
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question types are excellent for benchmarking how likely teachers are to recommend PLC participation to peers. This simple metric speaks volumes when supported with follow-up “why?” questions. Try out our ready-made template here. Example:
On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend joining your PLC to another teacher?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": Always consider adding conversational followups. If a teacher says “my PLC meetings aren’t helpful,” ask, “Can you share what would make them more useful for you?” That extra layer reveals not just what teachers think, but why. Example:
Why was that PLC meeting particularly valuable (or not) for you?
If you want even more teacher survey questions, strategy tips, or examples for PLCs, explore our in-depth PLC survey question guide.
What is a conversational survey—and why use AI survey generators?
Conversational surveys transform static forms into dynamic chats, creating an experience that feels like talking to a smart, friendly researcher. You get better engagement, richer answers, and it’s just more fun for everyone involved.
Manual survey creation takes hours—writing, editing, formatting, logic checks, and follow-up scripting. With an AI survey example (like what Specific delivers), you can create polished, logic-rich surveys in seconds from just a prompt. The AI leverages expert research patterns, adapts tone, and ensures respondent experience is natural and friendly.
Manual Surveys | AI-generated Surveys |
|---|---|
Time-consuming setup | Instant generation |
Why use AI for teacher surveys? Because an AI survey generator instantly creates actionable, expert-level surveys—plus, the experience is way smoother for both teachers answering and you, the survey creator. Specific’s conversational surveys stand out for keeping feedback collection simple and engaging, on both desktop and mobile. Editing is a breeze thanks to our AI survey editor—just chat to update anything.
If you want a step-by-step walkthrough, check out our how-to guide for analyzing teacher survey results on PLCs.
The power of follow-up questions
Static surveys ask once and move on, but the real power lies in conversational follow-ups. Specific’s AI understands context in real time and asks clarifying questions—just like an expert interviewer. This not only saves you from endless back-and-forth emails but gives you deeper, clearer insights from the first reply. Learn more about our automatic follow-up questions feature.
Teacher: “The collaboration in my PLC meetings is okay.”
AI follow-up: “What would make collaboration in your PLC meetings more effective for you?”
How many followups to ask? Generally, 2–3 targeted follow-ups are perfect. You want to explore enough, but not overwhelm. Specific lets you set how many follow-ups you want—or lets the AI move on if it’s already collected the essential detail.
This makes it a conversational survey: every reply is the start of a back-and-forth, not a dead end. That’s how real understanding is built.
AI survey response analysis: Even if responses are mostly free text, our AI makes it easy to analyze. It summarizes, tags, and helps you chat with your data to find themes in seconds.
Follow-ups are still a new concept—try generating a PLC survey and experience just how powerful your insights become.
See this professional learning communities survey example now
See for yourself how quickly you can unlock richer teacher insights—create your own survey and start gathering high-quality feedback with expert-level conversational flow.