Question Co-Creation
Designing the listening questions you'll ask students.
Setting up a listening session
A listening session is the question set students will respond to and the day (or days) those conversations happen. The wizard walks you through naming the session, picking or writing questions, and reviewing before you create it.
The bundled question sets are high-quality, qualitative datasets designed by our team and grounded in published student-voice research. A full conversation usually runs 20-40 minutes, depending on the age group and how many questions you include.
Using the wizard
- From your dashboard, open the Listening Portal card.
- Click Schedule on the "Ready to listen?" card.
- Step 1 — Basics. Give the session a memorable name and an optional description. The name is what you'll see when looking back through previous sessions in the portal.
- Step 2 — Questions. Pick a question bundle (e.g. School Climate, Goodenow School Belonging, Fredricks Engagement) and four to six questions will populate. You can edit, reorder, or replace any of them.
- Step 3 — Review. Confirm the questions and the date, then click Create Session.
The date is for your records only. Students can record on any day after the session is created — the date helps you sort sessions later, nothing else.
Building questions from scratch
Rather than using the wizard, choose Build from Scratch. You'll get a blank session where you write each question yourself instead of pulling from a bundle.
A good listening session usually has four to six questions: enough to surface a few different threads, few enough to leave room for follow-ups inside a 20-40 minute conversation.
Designing questions that bring about great conversations
Open-ended
Questions that invite a story or a reflection rather than a yes/no.
Good questions
- When you think about who you want to be in 5 or 10 years, what comes to mind?
- What, to you, would be your ideal learning experience?
Could be improved
- Do you like your teachers?
- Is school going well this year?
Concrete
Anchored to a specific moment or experience the student can recall.
Good questions
- Name a time when you made a meaningful choice at school. What was that choice?
- What is one action, no matter how small, that our school should take to support your learning?
Could be improved
- How do you feel about school?
- How would you rate the school environment?
Clear & concise
One idea per question, short enough to grasp on the first read.
Good questions
- What is one word you'd use to describe school? Why?
- Where do you get to make choices during the school day?
Could be improved
- How often does your teacher give you clear feedback and help you feel like you belong?
- How well does this teacher explain concepts, grade fairly, and respond to students?
Non-leading
Phrased without hinting at the answer you'd like to hear back.
Good questions
- What do you hope teachers take away from this conversation?
- What other thoughts, ideas, or reflections do you have about school?
Could be improved
- Don't you think our school is supportive?
- Why do you love our new schedule?