In a post-ESSER DOGE world, where school systems are expected to do more with less, the spotlight on educational leadership has never been sharper. Districts are navigating rising expectations, shifting priorities, and a renewed demand for results, all while juggling fewer resources. It’s a moment that demands more than dashboards and buzzwords. It demands real strategic clarity.
Enter Parsec Education, a California-based edtech company making waves with a deceptively simple proposition: what if school systems could stop guessing which actions were working and start proving it?
At the heart of Parsec’s strategy is a new framework designed by CEO Babatunde Ilori, a former chief of staff and director of equity and access in two of California’s largest districts. It’s called DRIVE, and it’s an excellent approach for superintendents and educational leaders rethinking how they monitor progress and implement change.
“The real challenge isn’t picking the right initiative — it’s implementing it with quality,” Ilori says. “Most systems don’t lack effort. They lack the structures to measure and improve what matters most.”
The DRIVE Framework, short for Define, Rhythm, Invite, Validate, Execute, guides school systems through the messy middle between strategy and outcomes. Where traditional planning often ends at the action step, DRIVE begins there, offering a structure to monitor fidelity, gather meaningful feedback, and adjust in real time.
It’s not just theory. It’s embedded directly into Parsec Clarity, the company’s latest platform.
The Clarity Gap
For years, school improvement conversations have been dominated by outcome data, test scores, graduation rates, and other lagging indicators. But Ilori and his team argue that by the time these numbers arrive, it’s often too late to course correct. What’s missing is a consistent method for tracking whether the actions meant to improve outcomes are being implemented effectively in the first place.
Clarity fills that gap. Designed specifically to operationalize the DRIVE framework, Clarity allows school and district leaders to define high-impact actions, build fidelity rubrics, create action monitoring calendars, and integrate real-time feedback from students and staff.
“We don’t need more data,” Ilori says. “We need better ways to act on the data we already have.”
Qualitative Meets Scalable
That’s where Parsec Real comes in. An AI-powered feedback tool, Real lets school systems hear directly from students, teachers, and leaders, via video, audio, or text, and then translates those reflections into measurable insight. When paired with Clarity, the two platforms create a continuous improvement loop that blends qualitative context with quantitative rigor.
It’s a fresh approach at a time when education leaders are being asked to make smarter, faster decisions. As federal recovery funds sunset, the pressure is on to show an Academic Return on Investment, not just on spending, but on strategy. Parsec’s tools are being adopted by districts looking to go beyond compliance and into authentic, data-informed leadership.
“Accountability shouldn’t be a guessing game,” says Ilori. “It should be a conversation—and one that school leaders are equipped to lead.”
A System Built to Adjust
One of the most radical parts of the DRIVE framework may also be the most practical: it builds in time to change the plan. Every 4–6 weeks, leaders come together to validate what’s working, examine real implementation data, and make course corrections, not next year, but next month.
It’s this kind of responsiveness that Ilori believes will define the next era of school leadership.
“School systems have always had heart,” he says. “Now they need the habits to match.”
As districts across the country face the uncertain terrain of budget constraints and shifting metrics, Parsec’s bet is simple: systems that implement well will outperform systems that plan perfectly. And with the right tools, clarity doesn’t have to be a luxury, it can be the new standard.
