A Conversation with Dr. Cory Strasser

[00:00:00.000] – Steve Barkley
Leaders Learning from Leaders is pleased to welcome Dr. Cory Strasser to our podcast. Dr. Strasser is the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for Rapid City area schools in South Dakota. He is a veteran educational leader with 28 years of experience in K-12 education, serving in roles from the classroom to the principalship in both South Dakota and Minnesota. He has led numerous strategic initiatives to improve student achievement, expand learning opportunities, and strengthen school systems. His work includes building innovative programs in career and technical education, developing alternative and behavioral support programs, and creating virtual learning options that expand access and flexibility for students. Welcome, Cory.

[00:01:00.800] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Thanks for having me here, Steve.

[00:01:03.400] – Steve Barkley
I’m wondering, for starters, could you just tell listeners a little bit about the Rapid City area schools community?

[00:01:10.720] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Yeah, so Rapid City is located in South Dakota. We’re an island in the prairie. If you if you think about it, if you’ve ever been here, we’re famous for Mount Rushmore. But Rapid City area schools is the second largest school district in South Dakota. We serve roughly 12,000 students. We’ve got 22 school buildings across our district. Our community is really unique and rich. We’ve got a blend of urban, a blend of rural, and We’ve got a strong connection with tribal nations. And we have industries that come together here, the ranching industry, forestry, tourism. So it really creates a nice, rich and diverse community. All those aspects come together that present us a lot of opportunities to educate our students in a variety of ways. Our district is very focused on organizational excellence. We do that through a coherent strategic plan that focuses on five specific pillars: students, staff, community, communication, and facilities. So provides the framework for how we look at everything and how we move forward in every area of our district. So we’re really excited about how that’s come together over the last couple of years and where that’s taking us for creating great opportunities for our students.

[00:02:48.340] – Steve Barkley
I can see where the mix of all those different players within the community creates terrific opportunities to be tapped.

[00:03:04.100] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Yeah, there really is, because in a lot of school systems, you’re relegated to, well, you’re this or you’re that. We really have opportunities to develop and give students a much broader educational viewpoint and landscape. And when they leave going through our system, there’s just so many more opportunities from an occupational standpoint and really how they can develop their careers in the Rapid City and Black Hills region.

[00:03:41.200] – Steve Barkley
Terrific. Your title of Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services – I’m wondering if you’d break down for us what falls under Educational Services.

[00:03:54.940] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Yeah, I’ll try to summarize that. But Educational Services really – I work with our directors and our principals. We focus on the instructional and student support systems that align directly with our strategic plan. So that is is establishing a strong curricular focus throughout the district. For example, we really leaned into the science of reading and how that can improve our instruction in literacy. We’ve looked at creating quality assessments through evidence-based grading in several of our schools, so we’re really focused in that area. We also look at career and technical education, how we can continue to develop strategic partnerships in our community. One of the things that we also look at is alternative programming and behavioral programming. So in the last two years, we brought in different opportunities for students because we know that one size doesn’t fit all. So we’ve greatly expanded our opportunities, not just at the high school, but this year we’ve implemented some new alternative programming at the middle level, and that includes expanding our virtual programming as well across the district. So we do a lot of the instructional and programming side, but my office also deals with student enrollment.

[00:05:33.010] – Dr. Cory Strasser
We have transfers within the district. When you have 22 schools, there’s a lot of movement, as well as open enrollment in and out of the district. We take care of that side. Another big function is the behavior support for principals. My office works directly with principals and making sure that we provide equitable disciplinary actions and responses. We’re really in tune with the behavior side across our schools. And then finally, the big one for me is how we develop our principals as leaders. And so we’ve taken a targeted leadership development approach that focuses on leaders within the PLC community. So too often we work with teachers in a PLC arena, but we don’t do that as leaders ourselves. So we’ve worked hard on developing a PLC model where our principals can come together and be more collaborative in their work. We’ve also looked at different leadership skills. One of the big pieces that we focused on is the feedback cycle and feedback loops with our principals from myself to our principals and our principals then to their staff and their buildings. That’s been a huge move for us and has allowed us to really listen and learn from all the people in our organization.

[00:07:17.500] – Dr. Cory Strasser
And then the last part is really centered on how do we develop our principles through research and learning. And that’s a big deal for us. We just started some very intentional, very high-level thinking based on quality research that we know not just from Great American schools, but schools from around the world. So all of that is a part of my office, and it’s all really tied back to how we connect with our strategic plan and ensure that the stuff that we do each day is really carried out, carried out well, and has the outcomes that we hope as a district.

[00:08:04.160] – Steve Barkley
A lot of areas. You must have quite a team that you pull together to accomplish that.

[00:08:19.320] – Dr. Cory Strasser
We’re not a huge team here in the central office, but we really, I think, have established just a really good way of communicating with principals, bringing them in when we need to, to have those conversations together that can really move us forward in quality ways. And breaking down communication is a real thing in our district. So we work really hard at that. And that’s where I go back to our feedback cycles. I’m constantly trying to listen to our principals and see what they can tell me, but also trying to provide support and guidance to them.

[00:09:08.200] – Steve Barkley
As I was doing my prep for the call, I found a statement that you had made about the principalship. And you’ve clearly established already all the different things you’re doing. But your statement is, “vital for the success of a school in a district, but more important for the success of students.” You want to talk a little bit about the “why” that you see the principalship in that critical role?

[00:09:43.140] – Dr. Cory Strasser
My thinking on that really goes back to, I was a principal for 17 years before moving into this role. And knowing what a principal goes through on a day-to-day basis, knowing how they can impact instruction, how they can move the programming. I think those are essential. Then they do it in a way that can build trust, both with their staff and with the community. The principal is that front-facing person for each school. Really, they become that cornerstone for the school and for district success. I believe principals set the tone for their culture. They set the tone for what instruction and that level of quality looks like. And again, going back to they establish trust, and that’s a huge thing. So when I say that they’re vital for the success of school, those are a lot of different areas that they are continually impacting day to day more so than what we do at the district level. So that’s why I believe that principals are essential to the success of our schools. And that’s why when I talk about how we need to uplift and develop leaders and continually refine their skills, I believe that that is how schools improve.

[00:11:33.920] – Dr. Cory Strasser
And then ultimately, when they’re really good, students are the beneficiaries. And again, I think it all connects to why are we here? What is our ultimate purpose? And if our purpose as a district, from everything we say as leaders, from our strategic plan on down, is to benefit student learning. In my opinion, the best way to do that is to have high-quality leaders, and that’s the role of the principal.

[00:12:09.840] – Steve Barkley
I’m hearing that the principalship requires an ongoing learning. It sounds like it’s not the thing you can go prepare for and step into it. I’m hearing your expectation that your principals are continuous learners, maybe lead learners.

[00:12:35.660] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Very true. We use a little mantra that I’ve seen over the years, and it’s “learning leaders leading learning organizations.” That is the primary function of our school system is to be learners. And we need to be that at every level. And we need to live that out if we expect that of our students and for them see what it means to learn in whatever context. We’re always learning. And so that’s what we’re guiding. That’s what we’re working towards. And it’s no different for the principal. There’s so much that they do on a daily basis and that they’re expected to carry out. But learning certain skills along the way obviously makes them better. It’s just like what we expect out of teachers. We’re continually working with teachers to be better and develop their skillset. So we’re not going to move away from that philosophy. We really believe that they are learning leaders leading learning organizations.

[00:13:47.080] – Steve Barkley
So that really ties into the concept of the PLC for principals?

[00:13:53.160] – Dr. Cory Strasser
It does because, for example, when you have five middle schools, how do you bring principals together to really learn from each other and to know what this school is doing versus what that school is doing? And if we’re having success over here, but not over here, how do we break that down? And not just having a conversation about it, but also looking at, well, what is my data telling me? How are we able to structure the day? What implementation or culture did we need in order to make a certain change? So we’re really looking at that, and we can do that better through the PLC model. And it’s hard because we’re expecting principals to take time out of the day to do this and to meet. But that is also an expectation of our teachers. So it lines up really well with our thinking of being learning leader. And again, it’s a way to communicate and grow the really good things that we’re doing across the district.

[00:15:10.740] – Steve Barkley
I’m wondering if you’d have any words of advice for principals who are considering looking at moving to a central office role and maybe on to a superintendency?

[00:15:30.500] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Yeah, I think I would encourage anybody who has a desire to continue impacting the organization. I think about – there’s different ways to impact every organization and the impact you’re currently having versus what you could have. They’re all different, but they’re all valuable. So for this role in particular, I think you really have to think broader than yourself and broader than your school. So typically, when you’re a principal or building-level administrator, administrator, you have what’s right in front of you, and that’s what you’re working towards. You can continue to do that, but you also now need to look broader, and that’s more the systems thinking. How would that roll – how do I need to think about that to impact beyond what’s in front of me right now? And that is probably the biggest thing. It’s a combination of strategic thinking and systems thinking in order to broaden the work that you do. And that’s a very valuable line of thinking when you’re wanting to move to another because every level the systems become more. And that’s a real challenge, but it’s super awesome. Just thinking back on my experience, I went from a much smaller district to this district, where I was in a district of 1100 students, and now in a district of 12000, and assistant superintendent role.

[00:17:27.650] – Dr. Cory Strasser
So there was a huge learning curve, and really thinking broader. But it’s also super exciting. And while it’s challenging day to day, it’s a lot of fun to work with so many people across the district and trying to really impact the organizational excellence line of thinking, how to carry that to every building so that we can move students to be to have a great experience and to be really good as they go through and have opportunities. I definitely encourage inspiring superintendents to really think about, figure out what do I need to do to get there, but then think broader and really look at that systems line of thinking and perspective so that, yeah, I want to shape a whole district versus this part of the district.

[00:18:30.000] – Steve Barkley
So I’m wondering if if central office assistants, assistant superintendent in a district your size have a responsibility to be looking at how to create opportunities for people in the principalship to be looking at and thinking about those central office roles and the learning or skill development it take to get there?

[00:19:03.880] – Dr. Cory Strasser
So I think through a lot of the things that we’ve laid out from developing a principal, there’s a lot of transferable skills. And that’s where you really should start is, what are the things that I know that I’m really good at? And how does that fit the role of a superintendent or assistant superintendent or a director of teaching and learning? So whatever central office position, what’s my current skillset? And then really, what do I need to expand? How do I know what I need to expand in those communications? Hopefully, we’re having with our principals and other leaders in our district who do want to advance and impact the district differently. That’s something that – I think the way we’ve organized our district, we’re in a good place to have those conversations and support those who want to consider moving into a different role.

[00:20:11.620] – Steve Barkley
Well, Cory, before we close out, what’s the easiest way for people who’ve heard the podcast and have a question or a thought they’d like to share with you to be able to touch base with you?

[00:20:26.900] – Dr. Cory Strasser
The best way is to just shoot me an email My email is cory.strasser@k12.sd.us. Shoot me an email, and I’d be happy to give you a call or engage in a conversation and just talk about whatever’s burning in education or if you’re interested in learning more about what we’re doing here, I’m pretty sure I’d be interested in what you’re doing in your district because we’re continually trying to trying to be better.

[00:21:01.280] – Steve Barkley
Well, I can tell you right up front that I’m likely to be recommending a few folks to call you. The PLC with principals, I think is a really valuable piece. And my finding across the board is people not having a lot of success making that happen. And so people to hear what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and getting it to work, I think it would be real valuable.

[00:21:36.800] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Yeah. As I said, it’s been a work in progress, but we’re really intentionally leaning into it. I think it’s a great way to develop leaders and improve your school.

[00:21:49.700] – Steve Barkley
You bet.

[00:21:49.960] – Dr. Cory Strasser
So I’d be happy to have any conversations move forward.

[00:21:54.240] – Steve Barkley
Thank you so much.

[00:21:56.540] – Dr. Cory Strasser
Thanks, Steve.