44 Questions to Ask Students, Families, and Staff During the Pandemic

Written by Danielle Boucher, Jenna Buckle, Keridan Doyle, Leah Ewall-Wice, and Connie Jangro.

For many school communities, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant "a year of crisis and uncertainty. The effects of the pandemic are real and tangible.

That's why it's important to open up lines of communication with students, families, and staff. What do they need to feel supported by school and district leaders during the pandemic?

Consider running a 360° school climate survey to identify ways to better support students, families, and staff during the pandemic. The surveys can help you gather feedback on the learning environment (whether in-person, hybrid, or virtual); COVID-related health and safety procedures; social support systems; student academic needs; and school leadership and communication. With the data, your school and district leadership teams can more quickly identify and respond to the community's needs.

Here are 44 questions to learn more about your student, family, and educators' experiences during the pandemic.

Download Starter Kit: 360° School Climate Surveys

44 Survey Questions for Students, Families, and Staff

For Students (Grades 3-5 and 6-12):

1. How would you like to be learning right now (more time at home, more time at school, etc.)?

2. How difficult or easy is it to use the distance learning technology (computer, tablet, video calls, learning applications, etc.)?

3. How satisfied are you with the amount of time you spend speaking with your teachers?

4. What do you like/not like about school right now?

5. How difficult or easy has it been for you to follow the COVID-related safety measures and protocols at your school? (Grades 6-12 only)

6. How sure are you that you can do well in school right now?

7. Are you getting all the help you need with your schoolwork right now?

8. When you have online schoolwork, how often do you have the technology (laptop, tablet, computer, etc.) you need?

9. How much effort are you putting into your classes right now?

10. How difficult or easy is it to stay focused on your schoolwork right now?

11. How connected do you feel to the adults at your school right now? What about other students?

12. If you are participating in distance learning, how often do you hear from your teachers individually?

13. If you are participating in distance learning, how often are you talking with your friends from school?

For Families and Caregivers:

14. How satisfied are you with the way learning is structured at your child’s school right now?

15. How confident are you in your ability to support your child's education during distance learning?

16. Do you think your child should spend less or more time learning in person at school right now?

17. What is working well with your child’s education that you would like to see continued?

18. What is challenging with your child’s education that you would like to see improved?

19. How would you describe the level of COVID-related safety measures and protocols in your child’s school to keep students healthy?

20. How concerned are you about your child’s academic growth right now?

21. How concerned are you about your child’s social-emotional well-being right now?

22. How concerned are you about your child’s peer relationships right now?

23. How helpful has the communication from your child’s school been this school year?

24. How clear has communication from the school been about COVID-related safety measures and protocols?

25. How concerned are you about managing your daily schedule with your child’s current school schedule?

26. How concerned are you about child care?

27. When you need to, how difficult or easy is it to get in contact with your child’s teacher(s)?

28. How comfortable do you feel communicating with your child’s school?

29. How much do you feel the school values your opinions?

For Teachers and Staff:

30. How satisfied are you with the current learning model at your school?

31. What kind of effect is the current learning model having on your social-emotional well-being?

32. How difficult or easy is it to support other people in your life (family, friends, loved ones, etc.) with the current learning model?

33. How confident are you that you can provide effective instruction in the current learning model? (Instructional staff only)

34. How difficult or easy has it been for you to implement the COVID-related safety measures and protocols in your building?

35. How concerned are you about students’ academic growth right now?

36. How concerned are you about students’ social-emotional well-being right now?

37. In the past week, how many of your students regularly participated in your virtual classes? (Instructional staff only)

38. In the past week, how engaged have students been in your virtual classes? What about your in-person classes? (Instructional staff only)

39. Compared to past years, how much harder or easier is it to form relationships with your students right now?

40. How valuable has professional development been so far this year?

41. How helpful has leadership at your school been in resolving challenges so far this year?

42. How satisfied are you with the frequency of communication from school leadership? What about from district leadership?

43. How clear has communication from school leadership been on COVID-related safety measures and protocols?

44. How clear has communication from school leadership been about the school’s learning model?

Elevate Student, Family, and Staff Voices This Year With Panorama

Schools and districts can use Panorama’s leading survey administration and analytics platform to quickly gather and take action on information from students, families, teachers, and staff. Panorama's survey content is applicable to all types of K-12 school settings and grade levels, as well as to communities serving students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. In the Panorama platform, educators can view and disaggregate results by topic, question, demographic group, grade level, school, and more to inform priority areas and action plans.

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