50+ effective parent survey questions and templates for meaningful feedback

Parents worldwide want to be more involved in their children’s learning, and schools that listen to parents are better positioned to meet these expectations, according to the Global Parents Survey by the Varkey Foundation.

Parent surveys not only help educators make informed decisions, but they also give parents a voice in their children's education. Parent surveys gather valuable feedback that can enhance communication, foster engagement, and ultimately support improved student outcomes.

In this article, you’ll gain access to 50+ parent survey questions and expert-written survey templates to engage parents and improve student outcomes.

A parent survey is a tool used by school administrators and educators to collect feedback from parents about their child’s education.

Parent surveys typically include questions about the school environment, academic support, communication with teachers, and overall satisfaction with the school experience. By giving parents a chance to share their perspectives, schools can gather direct input from one of the most influential stakeholders in a student’s education.

Dr. Karen Mapp's 2002 paper, "A New Wave of Evidence," highlights that parental involvement boosts student academic performance, standardized test scores, social competencies, and graduation rates.

Parent surveys are essential for understanding what parents need, what concerns they have, and how schools can better support student learning and success. Schools can use this information to

To ensure that parental involvement has a positive impact on education, we partnered with Dr. Hunter Gehlbach of the Harvard Graduate School of Education to help K-12 schools ask the right questions.

Our partner, Dr. Gehlbach, and his team employed a rigorous process to develop survey questions that assess key areas of family-school relationships. Drawing from academic literature, parent interviews, focus groups, expert panels, and survey design best practices, the team developed our parent survey template to address the following key areas.

Here are 50+ additional parent survey questions for your next survey.

Related: Top student survey questions to ask

Principals, district staff, school boards, or parent/teacher organizations from any K-12 school—public, private, independent, charter, urban, or rural—should use parent surveys to understand how they’re doing with parents.

It can also be helpful to get context from your survey results by comparing them to results from other schools or organizations. Finding a benchmark to compare your parent engagement data can help you set actionable goals and better understand your strengths in school-parent interaction.

A parent engagement survey is ideal for gauging how involved parents feel in their child's school life. It helps schools understand how effectively they’re communicating and where there may be opportunities to boost parent involvement. Use the Parent Engagement Survey Template to identify areas where parents feel most engaged—and where they’d like to play a more active role.

Designed to explore the kinds of support parents need from the school, the Parental Support Questionnaire Template helps uncover what resources or assistance would help families better support their child’s learning. It includes questions on academic guidance, extracurricular support, and more.

This all-purpose survey is built specifically for families with children in K–12 education. The K-12 Parent Survey Template gathers feedback on school programs, teacher communication, and overall satisfaction, offering a well-rounded view of the parent experience.

The child behavior survey focuses on how parents observe their child’s behavior both at home and in school. The Child Behaviors Survey Template is a valuable tool for identifying behavioral concerns and building collaboration between families and educators to address those challenges.

This survey helps schools assess how confident parents feel in supporting their child’s academic progress. The Parent Self-efficacy Survey Template is especially helpful for identifying where parents may need additional resources, training, or encouragement.

School program fit surveys assess how well the school’s programs align with parents' expectations and students' needs. The School Program Fit Survey Template is a practical tool for identifying programming gaps and guiding future improvements.

The parent roles and responsibilities survey explores how parents perceive their role in their child’s education. The Parent Roles and Responsibilities Survey Template helps schools better define the parent-teacher partnership and clarify expectations on both sides.

A well-designed survey can provide valuable feedback on everything from school communication to academic support. However, a badly designed survey will lead to low response rates, unclear data, and missed opportunities to understand parent perspectives.

The steps below will guide you through the process to ensure your survey is focused, effective, and easy for parents to complete.

Before you ever consider questions or survey design, you must determine what you want to learn from the survey. Think of it as the beginning stages of a well-written research paper—it’s your research question.

Are you seeking feedback on school communication, academic programs, or parent involvement? Having clear objectives will help you craft focused questions that generate actionable insights.

You probably wouldn’t accept an assignment on the back of a napkin. You should use a reliable platform to design and distribute your survey that upholds the importance of your survey.

SurveyMonkey offers easy-to-use tools that help you create, send, and analyze surveys, along with expert-written parent survey templates specifically designed for schools. Use our AI-powered survey tool to build and analyze survey results like an expert. 

Consider the five-paragraph essay structure: it begins with a thesis statement, followed by three supporting paragraphs, and concludes with a summary. The key to an A+ essay lies in supporting paragraphs that are clear, relevant, and effectively bolster the argument presented in the thesis statement.

What makes successful parent surveys are survey questions aligned with your research goal. Keep your questions simple, specific, and aligned with your goals. Use a mix of multiple-choice, rating scale, and open-ended questions to capture both quantitative and qualitative feedback. 

Additionally, consider your audience when crafting your survey questions. Avoid leading or overly complex wording that can lead to survey bias or abandonment.

Before distributing the survey to the entire parent community, it is crucial to conduct a preliminary test with a small, representative group.

This pilot phase, akin to a classroom peer-to-peer review. It allows you to identify ambiguities, ensuring that the language is clear, concise, and easily understandable by all respondents.

Furthermore, testing helps to pinpoint potential usability issues, such as confusing navigation or technical glitches. This guarantees a smooth and effortless experience for parents.

This initial feedback loop is invaluable for refining the survey instrument, enhancing its overall effectiveness, and maximizing the quality and reliability of the data collected from the broader parent population.

Share the survey using channels that parents regularly use.

For example, if you regularly send a lunch calendar to parents’ emails, that might also be a good way to distribute a survey, as they already expect school communication there. Or teachers may embed a survey on their personal teacher website.

Clearly communicate the purpose and importance of the survey to encourage participation.

Once you receive survey feedback, act on it! Review the data to identify trends, concerns, and opportunities for improvement.

You may find an increasing number of parents wanting information about tutoring programs. Or parents do not know how to support their child’s education at home.

Use these insights to make updates to the curriculum and school programs. And communicate any actions you plan to take based on the feedback received. Families will want to understand shifts in their child's learning environment and how they can best assist their student through these transitions.

Related: Benchmarking school performance

Conducting parent surveys effectively requires more than just sending out a list of questions. To gather meaningful feedback, you need to plan thoughtfully, communicate clearly, and create an environment that fosters honest responses.

The following tips will help you boost participation, enhance response quality, and maximize the insights you collect.

Collect data on the parents’ background, including their child’s grade level, household income, and educational level, to identify trends. Asking parents’ demographic survey questions can help tailor programs, improve communication, and enhance engagement strategies.

Formulate clear and actionable questions that comprehensively address relevant aspects of the school experience. This should include inquiries about communication, support services, and the overall learning environment.

Ensure that each question encourages thoughtful reflection and covers aspects such as student engagement, mental health resources, safety measures, and parental involvement, fostering a holistic understanding of the educational journey.

Qualitative data only tells half of the story. Imagine receiving feedback that most parents believe the school's tutoring services are inaccessible. Why? An open-ended question can explain why parents can’t access tutoring for their child.

For example, a multiple-choice question may ask, “How accessible are the tutoring services provided by the school?” The follow-up close-ended question may ask, “Tell us about your experience accessing tutoring services.”

You may find that parents don’t know how to sign their child up for tutoring, or they may desire wider tutoring hours.

Education is fundamentally a collaborative endeavor, often likened to a team sport where teachers, parents, and students collaborate to achieve the best educational outcomes.

It is essential to present the survey results to parents in a clear and accessible manner. This transparency will help parents understand the current state of the classroom environment, any upcoming changes in curriculum or teaching methods, and specific strategies they can employ to support their child's learning journey.

By keeping parents informed and engaged, you can foster a stronger partnership that enhances student success and overall school community involvement.

It’s important to recognize that, unfortunately, some parents may hesitate to voice critical feedback due to concerns about potential retaliation against their child. This fear can stem from past experiences, perceived power dynamics, or a lack of trust in the system. To address these concerns and encourage open communication, it is essential to reassure parents that their input is anonymous. 

Anonymous surveys ensure that personal identifiers are not collected or linked to responses. By emphasizing anonymity and communicating how responses will be used to improve the school environment, parents can feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts without the fear of negative consequences for their children.

Related: Boost school engagement with student polls

Creating meaningful parent and guardian surveys doesn’t have to be complicated. With our expert-designed templates, school administrators can quickly build parent surveys that assist academically aligned goals, boost classroom wellbeing, and create a sense of camaraderie between teachers and parents.

These tools make it easy to collect feedback, analyze results, and drive positive change in your school community. Ready to get started? Explore SurveyMonkey for Education to create powerful surveys that support student success.