Building the Future of OST with Dr. La’ Shawndra Scroggins

Welcome to the premiere of Inside Out-of-School Time, the podcast for OST professionals looking to connect, learn, and grow. Hosted by Cappella Santos-Brow, editor of the 21st CCLC NTAC Messenger, this series dives into best practices, innovative ideas, and real stories that shape the out-of-school time field. 

In this debut episode, we sit down with Dr. La’ Shawndra Scroggins, the visionary leader behind the 21st Century Community Learning Centers National Technical Assistance Center (NTAC). Dr. Scroggins shares her journey, the creation of NTAC, and the groundbreaking tools and strategies the team is developing to support OST programs nationwide.  

Whether you're an OST leader, educator, or advocate, this episode is packed with insights to inspire your work and enhance your impact. Be sure to tune in to part two, featuring Dr. Candace Ferguson, for more on NTAC’s vision and priorities. 

Transcript

Cappella: Hello everyone. Welcome to Inside Out-of-School Time, the podcast where OST professionals like you can come to connect, learn, and grow, hosted by the 21st CCLC National Technical Assistance Center. My name is Cappella, and I will be your host. I’ve been in the 21st CCLC communications game for coming up on three years now, but before that, I taught high schoolers. And as our listeners can understand, my absolute favorite part of my job was connecting with my students — figuring out their unique personalities, their passions, and how I could help them succeed, which I’m sure is something everyone in the education field can relate to. So here at the 21st CCLC NTAC, I’m also the writer and editor of the NTAC Messenger, our monthly newsletter that connects you to the latest free learning opportunities and resources the Center offers to out-of-school time programs, or OST programs for short, that are funded at least in part by a 21st CCLC grant. And actually, all of our resources on our website are available to the public, so any OST program can use them. So, in each episode, we’ll sit down with leaders from the field to share best practices, innovative ideas, and the real stories that make OST programs so impactful. So, whether you’re looking for information on administering or managing 21st CCLC initiatives, tips to boost student engagement, ideas to enhance your programming, or inspiration to tackle challenges, you’re in the right place. Let’s go inside the world of out-of-school time together. So, in celebration of this grand premiere, you’re getting a two-parter. To kick things off for our first episode, I couldn’t think of a better guest than Dr. La’ Shawndra Scroggins, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ group leader at the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Scroggins is one of the key architects behind the National Technical Assistance Center, or NTAC as we call it. And her vision has been instrumental in creating resources and support systems for OST professionals nationwide. So, in this first episode, we’ll explore her journey, the tools that we’ve developed in collaboration with her team, and her aspirations for the future of NTAC. And during the second episode, we’ll chat with Dr. Candace Ferguson, project director for the NTAC, diving deeper into the NTAC priority areas, and all that other good stuff. So, let’s get started! 

Cappella: Hi, La’ Shawndra. Thank you so much for sitting down with me and kicking this whole thing off.  

La’ Shawndra: Yes, it’s great to be with you today. I am La’ Shawndra Scroggins, the 21st Century Community Learning Center group leader at the U.S. Department of Education. And I am thrilled to be here to share a little bit more about what makes the 21st CCLC National TA Center so unique and exciting. 

Cappella: So, can you tell us why it was so important for you, as the group lead at the Department of Education, to develop a national TA center specifically for 21st CCLC programs? What sets the NTAC apart as a national center?  

La’ Shawndra: Yes, so it was important for me to develop the National TA Center because I wanted to be able to provide both State educational agencies and subgrantees with comprehensive services and resources to enhance or even develop, depending on where they are in program development, robust 21st CCLC programs. I wanted the Center to be the premier out-of-school time destination for SEAs and subgrantees seeking to build capacity in both the organizational and programmatic aspects of this work. And when I think about what sets NTAC apart as a national TA center, several things come to mind. First, there’s the Individual Technical Assistance Plan, or ITAP. This tool is used by NTAC, with SEA coordinators, to identify needs of subgrantees and then develop a plan to deliver technical assistance to address those needs. Second, a multitiered system of support model is used to provide technical assistance, identifying services as universal, targeted, or intensive. This ensures that NTAC offerings meet attendees where they are in any given content area. Finally, the professional learning portal that we are developing sets the NTAC apart. The professional learning portal that we’re developing will allow SEA coordinators and subgrantees the opportunity to access learning on demand through the learning management system, or LMS. The LMS will automatically generate a certificate with hours earned once the offering has been completed. The professional learning portal will also contain a Knowledge Network that will bring this large 21st CCLC community of ours together. Users will be able to ask questions of one another, respond to discussion prompts, and share and access best practices from one another.  

Cappella: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And I think in this field, we are just saturated with professionals who have been in the field for so long, and they want to share that, and we want to foster that opportunity of sharing best practices, evidence-based practices. So, let’s shift gears a little to talk about collaboration, because I know that’s been an integral part of the NTAC — to not only encourage connections with professionals in the field but amongst different programs within the Department of Education, and even with other federal organizations and programs with shared priorities. Equitable access to resources is actually one of the seven priorities of the NTAC, which Dr. Ferguson will talk more about in Part 2 of this episode, but can you share some of the ways that the NTAC is fostering that collaboration and that connection?   

La’ Shawndra: Yeah, so this goes back to a little what I just spoke about with regards to the Knowledge Network. We want to give users the opportunity to engage and build a learning community with one another. Like you said, to share best practices and to really learn what each others are doing within their given program. In addition, we are collaborating with program offices across the Department to provide information on other programs through fact sheets. These fact sheets provide information on identified programs and effective ways to incorporate best and evidence-based practices into the out-of-school time space. We started with the Full-Service Community Schools program because we felt that it easily aligned to the work that we do within the 21st CCLC program. We are now collaborating with the Office of Special Education Programs to not only create a fact sheet, but to also engage in conversation around content for webinars and tools that may be useful to SEA Coordinators and subgrantees. This year, we are also planning to collaborate with the McKinney-Vento and English Language Acquisition program offices to develop fact sheets and other resources as well. 

Cappella: And, Dr. Scroggins, can I just say you have set the stage for the importance of using data to drive decisions and services and resources. And this is something both you and Dr. Ferguson are committed to. Can you share your thoughts on why it’s so important for the NTAC to be data driven? 

La’ Shawndra: Absolutely. It’s important for NTAC to be data driven for a couple of reasons. The first is that data is the best way for us to determine the content that is needed and desired by our stakeholders. Hearing from the field firsthand through surveys has been the most effective way for NTAC to be able to make decisions on which topics there should be a focus on and the most effective content and resources needed to be developed to meet the needs of SEA Coordinators and subgrantees. The other reason is that we are always looking at how we can improve in all areas, whether it is the website, course content, or in-person service delivery. We believe that engaging in continuous improvement to determine what needs to be enhanced, what may need to be reconsidered, or what may need to be added — and the only effective way to do this is by looking at all data available, and this includes any anecdotal information we may receive from unconventional places like an escalator ride with a participant from one of our in-person meetings. We are always asking them for feedback, whether, again, it’s through a survey, having conversations with them — but we triangulate all of that information and we use those data to determine what we need to strengthen, what we may need to take away, and what we may need to add.  

Cappella: Well, yeah, and speaking of anecdotal evidence, you’ve had amazing opportunities to speak to professionals directly from the field — and, you know, most recently at the Summer Symposium. Are there any aha moments you’ve been able to glean from these conversations? Any surprises you’ve encountered? 

La’ Shawndra: One thing that comes to mind is when we bring SEA staff and subgrantees together in person, it really gives them the opportunity to meaningfully network and learn from peers. I sometimes get my aha moments when I see them get theirs. And depending on an idea, I may immediately start thinking, how can I make this work? How can I support them? One idea that came to mind immediately was when I attended a conference a couple years back and there were some subgrantees in conversation about how they wish that they had the resources translated in Spanish. And so I was able to bring that idea back to the Department, proposing that perhaps we translate the existing website at that time to Spanish so that our Spanish-speaking community could access the resources more clearly in their native language. And the Department immediately supported that, and we were able to get that website accessible in both Spanish and in English. And so with NTAC, one of the things that we’re doing is, to the greatest extent possible, translating resources that are created in Spanish as well. 

Cappella: So, besides — I know you just gave a sneak peek that sometime in the future, we will have these tools and learning modules translated into Spanish. We recently added a section into the newsletter, the NTAC Messenger, and it’s just a Coming Soon section. And we just wanted to add that as a reminder that things are always just around the corner — and they are free. We always like to highlight that. So, besides, you know, Spanish-speaking modules and resources coming up, would you like to give listeners just a peek into the future of the 21st CCLC NTAC? What are some goals you have for the Center for the next few years? 

La’ Shawndra: I spoke earlier about the professional learning portal that is currently in the development stage. Our goal is to have it launched no later than spring 2025. And we are in the process of developing a host of resources focused on artificial intelligence, experiential learning, financial literacy, human resources, inclusion, and partnerships with schools and community-based organizations, summer learning, and community violence as well. NTAC is also preparing to launch an induction program for new SEA Coordinators that we’re really excited about. We started working on that about a year — just over a year ago, and NTAC has really enhanced the work that the Department started, and we’re so excited to be able to provide this product and services to new SEA Coordinators to really give them the foundation that they need in order to run programs successfully at the State level. And because of how well developed the induction program is for SEA Coordinators, we are looking at creating an induction program specifically designed for new subgrantee staff as well. We get questions all the time: “Do you have anything for new staff? Do you have anything for new staff?” And that’s what really spurred us to create the induction program. And I’m super excited that we’re almost there to be able to launch it, to provide staff with the foundation that they need for success. And one big goal that I have this year is connecting services that are provided by our contractors with the work done through NTAC. So, NTAC is our national TA center for the 21st Century, and they provide lots of resources and services for SEAs and subgrantees. But in addition to that, we do have contracts that provide services directly to our SEA Coordinators. But I see the LMS that we are creating as a space to host live technical assistance from our contractors as well. I see a space for live interactions within our Knowledge Network led by Department staff, NTAC, and our contractors. We really want it to be a community of learning for all of our stakeholders. And another goal that I have is that within the LMS, I would like to see courses that can be meaningfully built upon one another that could work towards something like a micro-credential that subgrantees and SEAs may be able to gain from taking a certain number of courses within a topic area. So, these are some of the goals that I have for the next several years. As y’all know, I think of things often all the time and I want to add into, add into because I’m always thinking about how we can best support our SEA Coordinators and subgrantees. So, I do want to highlight that this is just, you know, a small number of, you know, things that we’re thinking of, but we’re constantly, based on data, think about how we can best support our stakeholders. 

Cappella: Yeah, there are so many things just on the horizon, so we just want to encourage our listeners to just keep us on your radar. And with that, I think we’ll wrap things up here for Part 1. I just want to give a huge thank you to Dr. Scroggins for joining us and sharing your incredible insights into the 21st CCLC NTAC. From the innovative tools like the professional learning portal to the inspiring commitment to collaboration and equity, it’s clear that we’re paving the way for meaningful progress in the OST field.  

La’ Shawndra: It was my pleasure to speak with you today. I’m super excited about the work that we’re doing. And I just want to say thank you to all of the SEA Coordinators and all of the 21st Century subgrantees out there doing the great work every day, boots on the ground, providing our students and families with robust, high-quality programming. Thank you for your service, your work. And I encourage you to continue to reach out to us, provide us with any suggestions that you may have to enhance the content that we’re already providing, some suggestions for new content. And I just want to encourage you to go to the NTAC website. That’s where we house all of our resources. We have archived resources. We have external resources for you to look through different search modalities based on the topic of information you’re seeking. And we also have — what you will find to be coming soon — our professional learning portal. And it houses our current contact, if you look under resources, it includes courses as well as some of our microlearning. So, we just encourage you to visit the website because we will be making updates regularly, and stay tuned for the professional learning portal. Thank you again, Cappella. 

Cappella: Alright, that is a wrap on our first episode of Inside Out-of-School Time. I did mention that this premiere would be a special two-parter, so in our next episode, I sit down with Dr. Candace Ferguson, the project director of the 21st CCLC NTAC. So, stay tuned for that. Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe, share this episode with your network, and join us next time as we continue to explore the best practices shaping the future of OST programs. Thank you so much for improving the lives of young people inside out-of-school time.