Benefits of Using Education Surveys & Back-to-School Surveys

Education surveys are a great way to gain feedback from teachers, students, and parents. In addition to better understanding their needs and challenges, education surveys let these groups of people know that you value their opinions and are willing to make changes based on their input. In this blog, we’ll look at the benefits of education surveys and why back to school surveys are also very valuable.

Create your education survey with images now!

Benefits of Teacher Surveys

Teachers are on the frontlines every day, so it’s important to survey teachers to gain valuable insight into the school and its programs. Two of the most popular teacher questionnaires are the teacher satisfaction survey and the teacher engagement survey. 

The teacher satisfaction survey aims to determine the overall happiness levels of teachers and the contributing factors, while the teacher engagement survey is designed to find out what factors impact the productivity of teachers the most. These surveys can often lead to important discoveries, such as:

• Overall happiness levels
• Best practices for teachers
• Student challenges
• Administrative challenges
• School curriculums and policies 
• Support or resources they need to better perform their job
• And much more…

Not only are teacher opinion surveys eye-opening, but they can also lead to decisions that impact attrition rates of teachers, their satisfaction, and their productivity. Surveys also let teachers know that they have a voice and that their opinions matter.

Read more about Teacher Survey Benefits + 30 Teacher Survey Questions.

Benefits of Student Surveys

The results of a student survey can help school leaders identify potential issues that administrators may be unaware of. They can then work to correct these issues before they become full-blown problems. Through surveys, many schools have been made aware of student challenges and have developed programs to support students. 

Additionally, student surveys can identify where money should be spent. Based on what students deem important, school administration officials can determine where critical resources and funding should be distributed. Funding in many school districts remains down, resulting in teacher layoffs, higher classroom density, cuts in the arts and sports programs, and outdated books and teaching materials. While students may not always have the answer to finding budgetary support, their survey responses can be used to apply for funding through grants. 

Finally, a student survey can improve public relations. The public hears a lot about school districts through the media, which does not always paint an accurate or fair picture. When a school receives negative press, funding can drop and social media outrage can increase. Surveying students about areas of concern – the safety of the school, or the care that its staff provides, can go a long way when the time comes to offset any negative publicity.

Read more about the 7 Types of Student Surveys.

Benefits of Parent Surveys

Today, only 20% of US parents are fully engaged with their child’s school. Of course, parental engagement is important in order to improve student achievement outcomes, whether they’re helping kids with their homework, volunteering in the classroom, or simply attending school meetings. However, full engagement requires parents to develop an emotional relationship with their child’s school which a parent survey can help facilitate.

Using surveys to ask parents for their opinions on school matters and soliciting their ideas for changes and improvements push them to think seriously about their child’s school and what it means to them. But parental surveys do more than that when the results are provided back to them. 

When schools provide parents with the results of a survey, more than 70% of parents believe the survey will “bring meaningful change to their child’s school.” This is important because parents who believe meaningful change in their child’s school is possible are 2.6 times more likely to be fully engaged parents. By distributing a survey and sharing the results, schools can greatly increase the likelihood that the parents of their students will be engaged, which can, in turn, increase student achievement.

Why Use Back-to-School Surveys?

Returning to school after a three month hiatus can be nerve-racking for not just students, but parents and teachers as well. Creating back-to-school surveys offer several benefits, providing valuable insights, improving communication, and enhancing the overall educational experience. Here’s how each group benefits from these surveys.

Teachers Using Back-to-School Surveys

• Understanding Student Needs. Back-to-school surveys help teachers understand their students’ diverse learning needs, preferences, and strengths. With this information, teachers can tailor their instructional methods and classroom strategies to better engage and support each student.
• Personalization. Every student has a different learning style. By gathering information from students, they can begin to better accommodate different learning styles, paces, and interests. For example, they may learn which students are visual learners versus aural learners, and tailor lessons to both.
• Planning. What information did students retain over the summer? Where are their current skill levels at? Knowing this information helps teachers plan their curriculum more effectively. Teachers can identify areas that may require additional review or areas where students can be challenged further.

Students Taking Back-to-School Surveys

• Being Heard. Surveys let students know they have a voice when it comes to their education. Back-to-school surveys allow them to express their preferences, concerns, and needs, all of which could have changed over the course of the summer. 
• Greater Engagement. When students know that their opinions and feedback are valued, they are more likely to engage in the classroom. This can positively impact their motivation to learn and their overall academic performance.
• Personal Connection. Surveys can help students feel more connected to their teachers by fostering open communication. Students are more likely to approach teachers with questions or concerns when they know that their input is important.

Parents Taking Back-to-School Surveys

• Insight into Classroom Environment. Most modern parents want to know what goes on in the classroom and have input into things like classroom environment, teaching methods, and curriculum. Back-to-school surveys allow them to express their views in a way that doesn’t stress out or overwhelm the educator.
• Collaboration with Teachers: Back-to-school surveys let parents know that teachers are open to their input and welcome a dialogue. Parents can share their expectations, concerns, and suggestions, and then teachers can provide updates based on these specifics later in the school year.
• Supporting Learning at Home: By understanding their child’s learning style and preferences, parents can provide more effective support at home. They can align their efforts with what is happening in the classroom and reinforce the skills and concepts being taught.

Using an Education Survey with Images

With the average response rate for online surveys falling between 10% and 30%, researchers have their work cut out for them. However, science shows that we’re extremely visual beings, so why not create a poll with pictures? You’ll collect more responses and improve the accuracy of your data, so it’s a real win-win. Just look at the advantages of image-based surveys:

• Trigger participant memory
• Trigger emotional response
• Communicate ideas more effectively
• More engaging and fun
• More accurate responses
• Cross language barriers
• Improve response rates

Here’s a look at some of the things you can do with an image-based survey for teachers, students, and parents.

The following student survey with images uses imagery to ask students about school programs and their biggest concerns. It also provides a blank space for students to provide more feedback.

Student Survey Created with SurveyLegend

Next, in this teacher survey with images, educators are asked what could be done to help them perform their job better.

Teacher Survey Created with SurveyLegend

Finally, this parent survey uses imagery on the welcome page to explain the purpose of the survey in order to achieve a better response rate.

Parent Survey Created with SurveyLegend

Conclusion

Surveys are important for school leaders wanting to better understand the needs and concerns of students, teachers, and parents. However, response rates for surveys can be low, leading to inaccurate data. To achieve better results, use a picture poll or a visual survey. Research tells us that we are 90% visual beings, so using imagery can make a big difference. “…in our society, we speak with images,” says Ernesto Olivares, CEO at Ernesto Olivares VisuaInformation. “…Most people today prefer to obtain information through the online system, primarily visual, and the current generation has grown and learned in such a way that it is difficult for them to cope with a different communication from using images.”

Ready to create your education survey? Start today with SurveyLegend! With SurveyLegend, you can resize images, complementing questions or answers, or creating beautiful backgrounds. And, there are no limits in the types of image polls and image-based surveys you can create. For instance, you can use imagery to create clickable image polls, visual-based multiple-choice selections, ranking surveys with emojis, and more. So, begin reeling in respondents and more accurate data with our free online photo voting tool and photo surveys. You can start now or read more about wowing your respondents with SurveyLegend’s image-based surveys and polls.

Do you regularly conduct education surveys? Do you think adding imagery to teacher, student, or parent surveys would increase engagement and response rates? Let us know in the comments!

Create your education survey with images now!

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