By late October, the newness has worn off. The first-week energy is gone, routines that worked in September are slipping, and a class that once lined up eagerly now takes three reminders. Maybe a few students have gone quiet. Others are racing through every challenge and looking for more. If that sounds familiar, nothing is broken. Your class is telling you something. The middle of a season is the best time to stop, read the room, and adjust before small patterns become big o

Propel Launches DashStrom Growth Mindset Training in 6 Schools This week marked a milestone for DashStrom: our growth mindset classes are now up and running at six Propel Schools elementary campuses. It’s our largest single-partner launch to date, and it happened during one of the best weeks of the year to celebrate after-school learning. Six schools, one shared language When Propel invited DashStrom to join its after-school programming this fall, we celebrated the idea of co

Growth mindset gets taught in the classroom. It comes to life when kids get to practice it. Most schools already teach growth mindset ideas. There are posters about the power of “resilience,” and lessons on how the brain grows like a muscle, and morning meetings where students talk about learning from mistakes. Ask a third grader about the little train that could, a classic growth mindset story, and many can tell you all about it. But knowing about a skill and using it are tw

DashStrom Stands with the International Day of the Girl What International Day of the Girl and DashStrom both believe about girls, courage, and the freedom to try Every October 11, the world pauses for International Day of the Girl. The United Nations established the day in 2011 to recognize girls’ rights and the particular challenges girls face around the world. The UN describes it as a day that belongs to everyone who cares about girls: a moment to celebrate them and to amp

We're thrilled to welcome Kavita Iyengar to DashStrom as our new Partner Coordinator. Kavita brings 22 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, and enterprise transformation.

In the first week of DashStrom Coach Certification, we get to witness a transformation in real time. It's the moment a coach gets what our key phrase, finding your dash means to them. It’s when they can stop focusing on the lesson plan and is able to walk into a room already believing the session is theirs to run. It’s not because they memorized anything or out of repeated practice. Rather, it happens the moment the coach embodies the lesson, and something in how they see th

Hampton Township School District's, "Amazing Dash," part of their "Portrait of a Talbot," during Remake Learning Days 2026 For children, families, schools, and the community at large Ask most people what makes a community strong, and they'll describe something physical: good schools, safe streets, a thriving downtown. But researchers who study why some communities produce healthier, more successful children than others keep arriving at a less tangible answer. It isn't infras

Youth enrichment startup DashStrom is set to work with Chatham University to train students, specifically younger ones. DashStrom has developed a program designed to get kids active in the real world and less engaged with screens. A new partnership with Chatham will see DashStrom provide paid training to upwards of 20 university students as student coaches this fall. "One of the biggest things we have learned is that the quality of the coaches that are doing the program matte

An encouraging, effort-based culture is one of the most powerful, and most measurable, levers a school leader has. If you stopped ten students in the hallway of your school this afternoon and asked them what happens when they get something wrong, what would they tell you? Would they describe a place where mistakes are data; proof that a hard problem is finally being wrestled with? Or would they describe a place where getting something wrong feels like a verdict on who they ar

When we talk about raising confident, resilient children, we often focus on what kids need to do: try harder, stick with challenges, and believe in themselves. But an important insight from Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, flips the conversation in an important way. “If we want our children to develop a growth mindset, we as adults must set an example, stepping out of our comfort zones… this won’t be easy—but it’s an incredible opportunity.” — Salman Khan (EdTechReview i

Growth Mindset Training at Work, Summer 2026 "Confidence Camp" Shady Side Academy DASHSTROM PARENT RESOURCES As the 2026–2027 school year gets underway, we are thinking about the usual checklist: school supplies, schedules, new teachers, new sports seasons. But one of the most powerful tools we have for helping our children enjoy, thrive in, and push through the challenges of this year isn't on any supply list. It's the language we use every day, especially in the moments rig

Summer camp season has wrapped, and if you ask our DashStrom coaches how it went, you'll get the same answer: loud. Loud cheering. Loud "I did it!"s. Loud proof that when kids are given the right kind of challenge, they rise to meet it. Over six weeks this summer, DashStrom brought the only youth enrichment curriculum that trains the growth-mindset to camps across Pittsburgh, turning ordinary summer days into a season of small breakthroughs. Mood Boards tracked changes in cam

A child looks up from a worksheet, catches a teacher's eye, smiles, and keeps working. A coach kneels to a five-year-old's eye level before giving instructions. A shy student finally looks a new friend in the eye and, for a moment, seems a little taller. These are small moments, easy to miss. But a growing body of research says they do more developmental work than most adults realize. Eye contact is one of the first tools children have for building trust, and one of the last

There's a moment every coach lives for. It happens quietly, often mid-class, when a child who walked in with hunched shoulders and a shaky "I don't think I can do this" plants their feet, takes a breath, and says, "Okay. I will try my best." It doesn't always look dramatic. But for anyone who has witnessed it, it is one of the most powerful things a child can do. And one of the most important things a coach can help facilitate.

Every session is a chance to shape a relationship, a mindset, and a life skill — all at once. A coach's whistle marks the start of practice. It does not mark the start of the coach's real work. That work began the moment a child decided to trust an adult who was not a parent or a teacher — and it will not end when the season does. At DashStrom, we talk often about the ripple effect of coaching: how a single interaction on a Tuesday afternoon can shape how a child sees a mista

Why letting kids explore, fail, get bored, and get creative this summer is one of the most important things we can do for the whole child. Let them wander the backyard with no plan. Let them get bored on a Tuesday afternoon. Let them build the fort wrong, fall off the balance beam, lose the pickup game, and try again anyway. It sounds like the opposite of good parenting or good coaching: shouldn't we be filling every hour with something enriching? But a growing body of resear

Growth mindset training — not talent alone — builds the confidence, grit, and self-belief that lets kids perform under pressure. Tomy missed his first two shots at the free-throw line. Then his third. A season ago, that would have been the moment he stopped trying; where his shoulders dropped and he told himself, quietly, that he just wasn't a shooter. This time, he squared up for a fourth attempt and made it. Then a fifth. By the end of practice, his coach wasn't talking abo

There's a moment every coach knows well. A child hits a wall: a drill that won't click, a challenge that feels too big, a moment of "I can't." And every instinct in the room says: help them. Fix it. Make it easier. But what if that moment, the uncomfortable, uncertain, struggling moment, is actually the whole point? At DashStrom, we believe the struggle is the session. It's not the obstacle to growth. It is the growth. And the research backs us up. What Is Productive Struggle

This Summer, Let Your Child Lead in Setting Bold, Child-Set Goals and Watch Them Become Stronger, Happier Kids by Fall. A growing body of research points to the same conclusion: when children lead their own goal setting and are encouraged to reach for bold, even far-off goals, they grow faster, feel more confident, and simply enjoy the process more than when adults hand them a pre-packaged plan.

There's a moment every coach, teacher, and parent recognizes. A child falls short, misses the shot, blanks on the test, stumbles in front of their peers, and you watch to see what happens next. Some kids crumble. Others get back up, adjust, and try again. The difference between those two responses isn't talent. It isn't a natural ability or even hard work. It's the growth mindset: the belief that intelligence and ability aren't fixed traits from birth. but qualities that expa