Media Kit
Resources for journalists, podcast hosts, conference organizers, and media professionals. Dr. Escobar is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
English & Spanish
In-person & Virtual
Riverside County, CA
Assets Available Upon Request
- High-resolution book cover image
- Author headshot (high-resolution)
- 360° ROI Framework overview graphic
- Book excerpt (first chapter)
- One-page summary sheet
Dr. Aubrey Escobar, DBA (Honors), M.Ed.
Dr. Aubrey Escobar is a scholar-practitioner with more than 25 years of experience spanning K-12 classroom teaching, school administration, EdTech executive leadership, and higher education. She is the Founder and CEO of Clairant, a strategic consulting firm specializing in educational technology evaluation and institutional risk governance, and the CEO and President of CLEAR (Center for Leadership, Equity, and Access), a 501(c)(3) focused on educational equity and leadership development.
Dr. Escobar also serves as Adjunct Professor at the Chesapeake Energy School of Business at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. She is the creator of the 360° ROI Framework, the Institutional Risk and Integrity Index™ (IRII), Constellation Mapping, and several other proprietary methodologies that help educational institutions make evidence-based decisions about technology, leadership, and organizational design.
Her career includes co-founding Mindsets Education and serving as Chief Academic Officer at one of the first online high schools. Her doctoral research demonstrated significant correlations (r ≈ .62) between transformational leadership dimensions and technology adoption success.
Dr. Escobar is a Spanish speaker with deep roots in Latin American intellectual traditions and cross-cultural expertise. The Connected District is the first in her eight-book series, which culminates in The Expansive Condition (2028).
Current Roles
- Founder and CEO, Clairant (clairant.io)
- CEO and President, CLEAR (Center for Leadership, Equity, and Access)
- Founding Director, The Fulcra Institute
- Adjunct Professor, Oklahoma Wesleyan University
The Connected District — Book Fact Sheet
Book Synopsis
School districts across the country invest millions in educational technology each year, yet most lack a systematic framework for evaluating whether those investments actually improve student outcomes, close equity gaps, or deliver sustainable operational value. The Connected District changes that.
Drawing on Dr. Aubrey Escobar's 25+ years spanning classroom teaching, school administration, and EdTech executive leadership, this book introduces the 360° ROI Framework: a comprehensive methodology for evaluating technology investments across four critical dimensions: Financial sustainability, Achievement impact, Equity outcomes, and Operational integration.
Key Themes
- Moving districts from reactive technology purchasing to strategic investment planning
- Evaluating EdTech across financial, achievement, equity, and operational dimensions
- Constellation Mapping for understanding authority, accountability, and communication structures
- Building institutional capacity to evaluate, implement, and sustain technology at scale
Key Messages & Talking Points
The ROI conversation in education is broken.
Most districts evaluate technology on cost alone, or on vendor-supplied achievement data. The 360° ROI Framework provides a comprehensive methodology that includes equity and operational dimensions, not just dollars and test scores.
Technology governance is an institutional integrity issue.
When districts adopt technology without evaluating its impact on equity, they risk deepening the very gaps they claim to be closing. The IRII helps institutions see their blind spots before those blind spots become crises.
Vendor promises are not evidence.
Districts need independent frameworks for evaluating what technology actually delivers versus what it was sold to do. Dr. Escobar's work provides the tools for that independent evaluation.
The connected district is a design challenge, not a technology problem.
Technology is only as effective as the institutional structures that support it. Constellation Mapping reveals the authority, accountability, communication, belonging, and time dynamics that determine whether any investment succeeds or fails.
Audience
Superintendents, assistant superintendents, chief technology officers, curriculum and instruction directors, school board members, EdTech executives, education policy researchers, and graduate students in educational leadership.
Suggested Interview Questions
Designed for podcast hosts, journalists, and conference moderators. Dr. Escobar is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
You say the ROI conversation in education is broken. What do you mean by that?
Most districts evaluate technology investments on one of two things: cost or test scores. But those are only two of at least four dimensions that determine whether a technology investment actually serves students. The 360° ROI Framework adds equity and operational integration to the conversation, because a platform that raises scores for some students while widening access gaps for others is not a successful investment.
What is Constellation Mapping, and how does it help districts?
Constellation Mapping is a diagnostic tool that reveals the five structural dynamics inside any organization: authority, accountability, communication, belonging, and time. When a district adopts new technology, it disrupts all five of these. If you only plan for the technology and not for the structural disruption, the implementation will fail, no matter how good the product is.
You have a unique background spanning EdTech industry and district leadership. How does that shape your work?
I have sat on both sides of the table. I have been the person selling technology to districts, and I have been the district leader deciding whether to buy it. That dual perspective is exactly what this work brings. I know what vendors are incentivized to show you, and I know what districts actually need to ask.
The Connected District is the first book in an eight-book series. Where does it fit in the bigger picture?
The Connected District is the sector-specific proof of concept. It shows how these frameworks work inside K-12 education specifically. The later books extend the same thinking to leadership development, organizational design, and eventually to a broader civilizational argument about how institutions either expand or contract the conditions for human thinking and agency.
What is the IRII™, and why should district leaders care about it?
The Institutional Risk and Integrity Index™ measures the gap between what an institution says it values and what its structures actually produce. When it comes to technology, the IRII helps leaders identify where their stated commitments to equity, access, or innovation are not reflected in their actual procurement, implementation, or evaluation practices.
What is one thing you wish every superintendent understood about EdTech?
That the most important question is not whether a product works, but whether your institution has the structural capacity to make it work. Technology does not fix broken systems. It amplifies whatever is already there.
Advance Praise
“This book offers an honest and unique insider perspective. Dr. Aubrey Escobar provides critical steps in her workshop format that can help administrators successfully adopt technology while avoiding the most common pitfalls.”
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For review copies, interview requests, speaking inquiries, and all media-related questions, contact the media relations team.