2026 Private School MarCom Survey
Give Us 20 Minutes.
Get a Report You’ll Use Time and Time Again.
And You Could Win $150!
The Private School MarCom Survey is recognized as the most complete examination of marketing and communications at private K–12 schools.
Since 2017, its reports have been the gold-standard benchmark for this crucial area of school operations.
Its findings answer such questions as MarCom’s most common duties in schools, the tools and qualifications necessary for those tasks, and how effectively they reach the right audience at the right time.
From staffing to storytelling, budgets to branding, photo shoots to professional development, the Private School MarCom Survey examines it all.
Who’s It For?
The 2026 MarCom Survey is for people who direct marketing and communications at an independent or parochial school in the United States and Canada, regardless of title.
If you personally lead or manage marketing and communications at your private school, this survey is for you!
The 2026 MarCom Survey is open now and will accept responses through September 30.
This informs our Private School MarCom Survey Report, coming in Spring 2027, which serves MarCom leaders, their direct supervisors and Heads of School. (Learn more about the kind of material gathered from our write-ups of the 2024 and 2022 reports.)
Completing the survey is the only way to ensure that your school’s data is part of this industry overview.
What’s In It For Me?
Why fill out the Private School MarCom Survey? Because you’ll benefit from both the questions being asked and the answers that you and others provide.
Our survey asks what MarCom leaders don’t often hear in schools, such as:
- What duties are you personally responsible for?
- Which skills would you most like to improve?
- Who gets the lion’s share of MarCom’s attention and time?
Such questions prompt useful reflections about your own work and may drive immediate adjustments.
All submissions are anonymous; there is no way to tie responses to a given individual or school. So we invite your complete candor.
MarCom leaders who complete the survey are eligible to win a $150 Amazon gift card in appreciation for their time and thoughtful answers.
We will randomly award one gift card for every 20 submitted surveys. So spread the word! More leaders taking the survey means more opportunities to win.
With the Survey Report, you’ll gain:
- A fuller understanding of private schools’ most common MarCom practices
- Accurate comparisons with your peers, informed by the most complete dataset in our field
- Greater knowledge about strengths and weaknesses within the industry
- The ability to advise leaders about where your school excels in MarCom and about opportunities for improvement
FAQs
Any individual who directs marketing and communications at an independent or parochial school in the United States and Canada, regardless of title.
Whether your school calls you director, manager, chief or something else, if you’re responsible for the MarCom function, we want your perspective!
About 20 minutes.
No, we’ve got you on this: If you leave your survey tab open, you can step away from your computer and come back to the survey later. You also can click to a different browser tab without losing your progress. Just don’t close your survey tab before hitting “Done” on the final page.
You can, although it will be easiest to navigate on a desktop, laptop or tablet computer.
Yes, we have no way to tie responses to a given individual or school.
First, complete the survey!
Next, the final page of the survey includes a link to a separate SurveyMonkey form (thus protecting your anonymity) and a code word you’ll need. Click that link, type in your school email address and the code word, and hit “Enter.” That’s it — you’re in the pool!
Any other questions? Reach out to us!
Acknowledgements
The Private School MarCom Survey was the brainchild of Rob and Liza Norman, founders of InspirED School Marketers and Turnaround Marketing Communications. The Normans created and distributed the first survey in 2017; they produced follow-up questionnaires in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024.
In 2026, as the Normans retired, they turned over management and production of the Private School MarCom Survey, along with its data archives, to Fine Point Communications.
Fine Point is responsible for the current list of questions and the upcoming Survey Report. We are deeply grateful to Rob and Liza for their many contributions to independent school marketing and communications. Their dedication made our industry wiser, stronger and more aligned.