Free Daycare Parent Survey Template and Guide

Like any good business, you should check in with your customers to be sure you’re meeting their needs and a daycare parent survey can help you do this. A daycare parent satisfaction survey is a great way to connect with parents on issues that are important to their children and to them. It is also an effective way of opening up the lines of communication with parents and making them feel involved and heard. 

These surveys also help you improve your daycare and your business. Gathering parents’ feedback and implementing useful suggestions can improve your daycare, your reputation and your enrollment numbers. A daycare parent survey is a win-win. Read on to understand why and how to survey parents and see a sample survey to help you get started. 

For more helpful resources on daycare-to-parent communication, check out this daycare letter to parents template!

Table of Contents

• Why Use a Daycare Parent Survey?
• How to Survey Parents 
• Improving Daycare Parent Survey Participation
• Using the Daycare Parent Satisfaction Survey
• Parent Survey Questions for Daycare: Free Template 

Why Use a Daycare Parent Survey? 

As a childcare center, your priority is the safety and well-being of the children you care for and teach. However, you never want to forget the importance of the parent's role in their child's development. Each parent has expectations for their child that are supported by the methods used by their childcare provider.  

That is why a childcare parent survey is vital to each child’s success. A survey is the best way to gauge the success of your daycare from the parents’ perspective. When parents see their children are happy and thriving, they are content with their choice of childcare. 

There are over 850,000 daycare centers in the U.S. To keep your enrollment high, you need to ensure that parents are satisfied. 

How to Survey Parents 

You want to get helpful information from parents, not just an overall satisfaction assessment. Therefore, you need to ask the right daycare questions for parents to get answers that help you improve your childcare operations.  

Be specific with your parent questionnaire to get the most effective feedback. For example, instead of asking how you can improve, ask about a certain activity, such as the drop-off and pickup routine. Get the parents to rate this experience and offer suggestions for improvement and provide an open forum for comments and recommendations from parents. 

Don't be afraid to introduce new ideas to parents through a survey. However, be clear that these are potential concepts that will only go into effect if the response is positive.  

You should also provide an incentive for participating in the survey, primarily the importance of the survey for improving the daycare. However, you may also want to present a tangible reward for participation, such as a raffle ticket entry for a prize.  

Improving Daycare Parent Survey Participation

You want to present the daycare parent survey at the right time and in the right format so you get enough participation to give you an accurate assessment. 

Your first task is informing the parents of the survey. They can't take it if they don't know it exists. About 58% of working parents use childcare, so they are busy juggling careers and parenthood. Sending several forms of notification via email, social media and bulletin notes will ensure they see it. 

Then decide on an online platform that makes completing the survey easy. Use childcare management software to alert parents of surveys, post survey results and collect the data from surveys.   

Using the Daycare Parent Satisfaction Survey 

A feedback survey isn't useful unless you analyze the results. Create a survey that shows numerical results to easily understand the outcome. Use multiple choice to present more complex answers and generate a report showing the percentage each answer earned from parents. You’ll need to review an additional comment section manually; however, a childcare software program can organize these comments for you. 

Finally, implement the satisfaction survey results in your daycare. Tell the parents about these changes to show how their participation improved their child's daycare. 

Parent Survey Questions for Daycare: Free Template 

Creating a daycare parent survey can be tricky if you’re doing it from scratch. That’s why we built this free survey template. The template includes an introduction and conclusion explaining the survey, and it includes several sample parent survey questions for your daycare. You can copy and paste the text below into your own document or click on the image to download the free PDF template. 

Download the Free Template!

Survey Text 

As a parent, your role in your child's education is crucial. In fact, studies have found that parental involvement in childhood learning is one of the main factors for success, from better grades to a positive attitude about school.  

Your involvement begins by letting educators know how satisfied you are with your child's learning experience and overall progress.  

That is why we invite you to answer these parent survey questions for daycare. Your answers will help us improve our operations and educational standards and implement new learning techniques.  

Parent Survey Questions for Daycare 

Rate the following parent satisfaction statements on a scale from 1 to 4 (4 means strongly agree and 1 means strongly disagree). Circle one number next to each statement.  

Daily Routine 

1. My child(ren) gets excited about coming to daycare. 1 2 3 4 
2. I find dropping my child(ren) off at daycare is easy. 1 2 3 4 
3. I find that picking up my child(ren) from daycare is easy. 1 2 3 4 
4. The staff accommodates my schedule. 1 2 3 4 
5. I feel welcome to interact or engage with my child(ren) when required. 1 2 3 4 
6. Snacks and meals offered by the daycare provide proper nutrition and variety. 1 2 3 4 
7. The staff puts effort into monitoring my child's eating habits and dietary needs. 1 2 3  4

Developmental Progress 

1. I am satisfied with the amount of outdoor and indoor time my child(ren) is/are given. 1 2 3 4 
2. All areas of my child's development are covered in daycare (mental, physical and behavioral). 1 2 3 4  
3. The staff focuses on my child's attributes rather than pointing out their shortcomings. 1 2 3 4 
4. Activities at the daycare offer a balance of hands-on creativity and standardized learning. 1 2 3 4 
5. I feel the social environment of the daycare offers healthy interactions for my child(ren) to build relationships. 1 2 3 4 

Safety and Cleanliness 

1. The daycare center is well-maintained and clean. 1 2 3 4 
2. I feel confident that my child(ren) is thoroughly supervised. 1 2 3 4 
3. The atmosphere of the daycare and its surroundings are welcoming and safe. 1 2 3 4 
4. I feel the security procedures and protocols are efficient. 1 2 3 4 
5. Toys and activities are age-appropriate and safe for my child(ren). 1 2 3 4 

 Communication  

1. I felt welcomed and informed when beginning at the daycare. 1 2 3 4 
2. Rules and regulations were clearly presented to me. 1 2 3 4 
3. I am notified of any daycare center changes, special events or field trips well in advance. 1 2 3 4 
4. I feel my opinion matters and is considered before any major decisions about my child(ren) are made. 1 2 3 4 
5. Concerns about my child(ren) are quickly addressed and discussed appropriately. 1 2 3 4 
6. Teachers communicate with my child(ren) appropriately. 1 2 3 4 
7. I feel comfortable scheduling and speaking with daycare center staff anytime. 1 2 3 4  

Overall Satisfaction  

1. Childcare surveys like this one are helpful in conveying my satisfaction with the daycare. 1 2 3 4 
2. Overall, I am satisfied with the structure and services provided by the daycare. 1 2 3 4 

Additional Parent Feedback 

This parent questionnaire is meant to improve the daycare. Therefore, your opinions are analyzed and considered when we make changes to daily procedures and the overall structure of the daycare.  

Please use this space to provide specific feedback on the topics mentioned in this daycare parent survey. Thank you for your input! 

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