Stakeholder advocacy is an important measure for schools, providing insight into loyalty, satisfaction, and emotional connection. Strong advocacy is closely linked to being a school of first choice, improving retention, strengthening reputation, and encouraging positive word of mouth.
Advocacy should be measured annually to track trends, identify emerging risks, assess improvement initiatives, and understand the factors influencing parent and community perceptions.
MMG uses two key advocacy models: A simple high-level measure of advocacy and a more detailed diagnostic model that identifies the drivers of stakeholder sentiment.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score is a simple measure of advocacy based on one question: How likely parents (or other stakeholders) are to recommend the school to others?
Responses on a 0–10 scale are grouped into Promoters, Passives, and Detractors, with the score calculated as the percentage of Promoters minus Detractors. This produces a clear, easy-to-track indicator of overall advocacy strength.
MMG has the largest database of NPS for independent schools.
NPS is quick to administer, easy to interpret, and strongly linked to word-of-mouth growth and is best used as a high-level indicator rather than a diagnostic tool for improvement.
MMG Affinity Model
The MMG Affinity Model is a more holistic and balanced measure of advocacy.
The MMG Affinity Model measures advocacy through a broader set of factors that reflect parents’ emotional connection, trust, and perceived value of the school. It includes items such as willingness to recommend, saying positive things, feeling informed, fit for the child, reliability, and value for money, typically measured on a 5-point agreement scale.
This approach provides a more detailed and actionable understanding of advocacy by identifying the specific drivers behind parent sentiment.
While it is more complex than NPS, it enables schools to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement, making it a powerful tool for guiding strategy and enhancing overall parent loyalty.