Here are some of the best questions for a preschool teacher survey about early literacy readiness, and how to craft them for richer feedback. You can build your own AI-powered survey with Specific in seconds.
Best open-ended questions for preschool teacher surveys about early literacy readiness
Open-ended questions let teachers share detailed insights you can’t capture with simple yes/no or multiple-choice formats. Use them when you want nuanced feedback, unique experiences, or to uncover new perspectives.
Here are 10 of the best open-ended questions for preschool teacher surveys about early literacy readiness:
How do you define early literacy readiness in your classroom?
What instructional strategies have you found most effective for supporting early literacy development?
Can you describe any challenges you face when teaching early literacy skills to your students?
How do you involve families in promoting early literacy at home?
What resources or materials do you wish you had to better support early literacy?
In your experience, how does student diversity (language, background, ability) impact early literacy instruction?
How do you assess the early literacy readiness of your students?
Which professional development opportunities have most influenced your literacy teaching practices?
How do your own beliefs or training shape your approach to early literacy?
What changes would you suggest to improve early literacy readiness at your school?
Open-ended questions are powerful because they invite teachers to share stories, successes, frustrations, and creative ideas—not just checkboxes. Research backs this up, showing that teachers’ beliefs about early literacy influence their classroom practice, but often don’t fully align with what happens day to day. ([5]) This kind of survey genuinely starts a conversation.
Effective single-select multiple-choice questions for preschool teacher surveys
Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want fast, quantitative data or to kick off a deeper discussion. They’re especially useful if you want to see patterns, compare groups, or discover where expectations aren’t matching reality. Sometimes they also help respondents get started—choosing from a few options is easier than typing when you’re not sure what to say. Once a choice is made, you can drill down with a follow-up for more detail.
Question: How confident do you feel about supporting early literacy development?
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Not very confident
Not at all confident
Question: Which best describes your training in early literacy instruction?
Comprehensive college-level courses
Basic professional workshops
Mostly on-the-job learning
None specific to early literacy
Other
Question: How often do you share early literacy progress with families?
Every week
Every month
Once per term
Rarely/Never
When to follow up with "why?" When you get a clear response—especially one that sets off a signal (very confident or not at all confident), that’s your goldmine for follow-ups. Ask why they chose that answer or how they define "confidence" in this context. For example, if a teacher responds "Not very confident," follow with, "What aspects of early literacy do you find most challenging?"
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always consider “Other” for questions about training, resources, or experiences, because unexpected pathways are common. When respondents pick “Other,” a follow-up can uncover new needs or insights you didn’t realize were missing from your checklist.
These kinds of choices are valuable because research shows preschool teachers’ education and training can vary widely, affecting the care and instruction they provide ([1]), and many teachers report gaps in their early literacy knowledge ([9]). Single-select questions plus thoughtful probing can bridge those gaps.
NPS-style question for preschool teacher surveys: Does it fit?
NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks, “How likely are you to recommend [something] to others?” It’s a popular way to gauge overall sentiment and loyalty, but it’s also powerful in education. For preschool teacher surveys about early literacy readiness, you can simply ask:
“On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend your school or program’s approach to early literacy readiness to a colleague?”
It works here because it reveals how aligned and supported teachers feel by the broader school system. With strong NPS data, you can segment results and dive into the “why”—if teachers rank low, inquire further; if they’re high, ask what’s working (try generating an NPS survey with Specific). Use NPS as a quick temperature check, then go deeper for real understanding.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-ups are what make conversational surveys stand out, and Specific specializes in this. With ai-powered automatic follow-up questions, the survey does what a great interviewer would do—ask for specifics, clarify ambiguity, and draw out crucial details teachers might not have shared otherwise.
Here’s how it plays out in practice:
Teacher: "Some families are harder to reach."
AI follow-up: "Can you share examples of challenges you face when communicating with those families?"
Teacher: "I use lots of storybooks."
AI follow-up: "What types of storybooks do your students respond to best?"
Without follow-ups, you risk missing the real message—if a teacher says, “Not enough resources,” do they mean books, time, classroom helpers, training, or all of the above?
How many followups to ask? Two or three is usually enough to get the needed context, but always set your survey so that if you have what you need, the conversation moves on. Specific lets you fine-tune this so the survey feels friendly and never overwhelming.
This makes it a conversational survey—not just a form, but a real dialogue. Respondents engage more and share richer insights.
AI survey response analysis, unstructured feedback, quick synthesis—with Specific, you can easily analyze detailed, text-rich responses using AI. What once was a tangle of anecdotes becomes a set of actionable findings.
Automated followups are new—try generating a conversational survey and experience the depth for yourself.
Crafting prompts for AI to generate great survey questions
If you’re using ChatGPT or another GPT-based tool to design your survey, prompts are everything. Start simple:
Ask for open-ended questions:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for preschool teacher survey about early literacy readiness.
Context boosts quality. Give the AI more background for stronger, on-point questions:
Our school is working on improving early literacy support in preschool. We have teachers from varied backgrounds and want to learn about challenges, successes, beliefs, training, and resource needs. Suggest 10 deep, open-ended questions for a teacher survey.
Now, take the next step—organize the questions:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Finally, focus on the topics that matter most to you:
Generate 10 questions for categories such as “challenges in literacy instruction” and “family involvement strategies”.
This structured approach surfaces more relevant questions and saves loads of brainstorming time. Or just let Specific AI survey generator do the heavy lifting—tailored to your audience and goals in minutes.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys are different from traditional forms. Instead of static questions, you chat back and forth—just like a human-to-human conversation. The AI gently probes, reacts, and keeps you engaged. Teachers love this format: it feels less like paperwork, more like sharing your story.
Here’s how it compares:
Manual Survey Creation | AI-Generated Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Manual writing and editing—time-consuming | Generated instantly via AI from prompts or expert templates |
Static, rigid question order | Dynamic, adaptive questioning with AI-based follow-ups |
Limited engagement; higher drop-off | Chat-like interaction keeps respondents engaged |
Harder to analyze open-ended answers | Built-in AI analyzes and summarizes the responses for you |
Why use AI for preschool teacher surveys? AI survey tools—like Specific—make it incredibly easy to personalize your questions, follow up in real time, and analyze everything in one place. You get better data with less work and make it easy for teachers to participate. For more on this, see our guide on how to create a preschool teacher survey about early literacy readiness.
Best-in-class user experience matters: Specific’s conversational surveys are designed to feel natural, effortless, and rewarding—so you get clear, complete answers, and teachers enjoy sharing their perspectives.
For even more flexibility, you can create a custom AI survey from scratch using your own prompt—just chat with AI until you’re happy with the questions, then launch instantly.
See this early literacy readiness survey example now
Start capturing deeper insights from preschool teachers about early literacy readiness with a conversational, AI-powered survey. Specific makes it fast, intelligent, and tailored for richer feedback—experience how much more you can learn in just a few minutes.