If you visit Nanny's Loving Care you may hear an educator instructing students about music, or see children learning in their colorful classrooms. Located on the far west side of Indianapolis, Nanny's Loving Care is one of the locations for the Indy Summer Learning Labs that teaches elementary-aged children.
The program began in Indianapolis during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to the dramatic learning loss among students. Students have struggled to make progress in reading and writing compared to academic proficiency before the pandemic.
Now, the five-week program is available statewide and funded through the Indiana Department of Education, and through partnerships with Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northern Indiana Corridor and other organizations.
It focuses on preparing students for the upcoming academic year with a daily math and reading curriculum. At the beginning of the summer, around 5,300 Indianapolis students in grades first through ninth enrolled. Another 6,000 students were expected to enroll in sites across the state. This is the first summer since the program's creation in 2021 that is completely free of cost.
During the first week, students take a test to determine their skills in reading, writing and math. When the five week program ends, the same test is given and the scores are compared to determine improvement.
Students at Nanny's Loving Care have already shown academic gains this summer, said Jazmin Sanders, senior director of innovative learning at The Mind Trust. The local education reform group created the initial program with the United Way of Central Indiana.
“For Nanny's Loving Care specifically, they saw a 59% learning gain in ELA from the pre to post assessment,” Sanders said. “Then they saw a 28% math gain from pre to post assessment. So that's showing the growth of students from when they come in during week one and then they leave at week five.”
Indianapolis students who attended the program in 2025 saw a 27-percentage-point learning gain in both English and math, according to an annual report. At the end of the summer, 73% of students scored basic or proficient in math and 59% in reading.
This summer, the program is at more than 60 school and community-based locations in Marion County. Each week, activities are based around a theme. For this final week, the focus shifted to fitness, teamwork, and healthy habits with activities like yoga, workouts, healthy snacks and team-building activities.
Sydney Clay, site leader at Nanny’s Loving Care and regional director, said she takes special pride in planning the summer calendar and ensures family engagement is always the goal.
“Each Sunday is just the theme of the week, it always has a theme and it has a sub theme and just gives a little bit more information,” Clay said. “Each day is based around that theme and then our family engagement night that we do on Thursdays, it pulls the parents in.”
The themed programming is designed to keep students engaged, while also strengthening social and emotional skills. Dionne Miller, the facility's executive director, said the program helps students get a head start for the next grade
“I think it speaks for the program, I think that our families know that their children are going to make gains in the summer,” Miller said. “They know that when they get back to school, the teachers are not reteaching the previous year. They're raring, and ready to go.”
Contact WFYI reporting intern Chloe White at cwhite@wfyi.org.
