How McDougle Middle School Changed School Culture with 378K House Points
When Assistant Principal Jamie West needed data to drive her school’s PBIS program, she built a house system around recognition, competition, and pride – proving that middle schoolers don’t need candy and chips to change their behavior.
“Even in those weeks where it seems like it was a rough week at school, you can look up at those house points and say positive things are happening here.”
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From Paper Bucks to Data
Jamie West spent 15 years as a classroom teacher, twelve of them running a paper-based PBIS system. As a teacher at a school whose mascot was the Gators, she printed CHOMPS bucks and found creative ways to track how she handed them out. But from committee meetings and PLCs, she learned that not every teacher was willing to put in the maintenance those little slips of paper demanded.
When Jamie left the classroom for administration – and jumped from elementary to middle school – she found PBIS wasn’t alive and well. Middle schoolers were different. But one thing hadn’t changed: kids still respond to praise.
McDougle’s first attempt at a house system used the Ron Clark model. Students could earn points, and the school started building competitive spirit across four houses. But the reporting and data weren’t doing what Jamie needed as an administrator.
“I wanted to be able to see what teachers were handing out a lot of points and cross-reference that with behavior data,” she says. She wanted to identify which students were flying under the radar – doing great things but never recognized. She wanted to spot which teachers were highly engaged and could mentor others. The Ron Clark system couldn’t answer those questions.
Then the pandemic hit. McDougle barely made it through the 2019–2020 year before everything shut down. When they returned, Jamie committed to finding a better solution – and discovered LiveSchool had opened up their House Points platform.
Four Houses, 750 Students
McDougle’s 750 students are divided into four houses: Altruismo, Armonía, Isabendí, and River – multicultural names chosen for their strong meanings. Students are sorted into houses when they arrive as rising sixth graders and stay in that house through eighth grade.
The annual Meet the Advisor event has become one of the most anticipated moments of the year. Rising sixth graders receive their house assignment while seventh and eighth graders show up to welcome new members into the fold. Each house has its own color, and on house color days students earn points just for wearing it.
Advisors are assigned to houses too, and move up with their students each year – building three-year relationships that extend well beyond the classroom.
Building balanced houses takes planning. Jamie works with the student services department to balance each house across gender, dual-language students, and a range of academic profiles. Siblings are intentionally placed in different houses. Staff assignments are equally deliberate – every house gets a mix of veteran cheerleaders and newer team members.
“We’re trying to get the best mix on each house,” Jamie says. The competition only works if every house has a real shot.
Points Earned, Not Given
McDougle established clear tenets for their system: points are earned, not given. Any staff member – teachers, TAs, custodians, front office staff – can award them through the app, the web platform, or any mobile device. But students can never ask for points.
“If they say, ‘Can I have some points for picking up this thing they dropped,’ we don’t let them get points for that,” Jamie explains. “We say, maybe next time you do it.”
A teacher committee created a point distribution chart to ensure consistency across houses – preventing one house from awarding 25 points for picking up a pencil while another awards one. Points are tied to daily classroom behaviors, academic diagnostics like iReady growth data, athletic MVPs, and spirit week participation.
Many teachers have woven LiveSchool directly into their instruction. The platform’s name randomizer lets teachers call on students during lessons and award points in real time – making the system part of the teaching, not separate from it. “A lot of the teachers who have bought in are seeing great success with student participation,” Jamie says. “Awarding points isn’t really becoming a separate entity – it’s embedded in their instruction.”
Adults Earn Points Too
At McDougle, adults are part of the competition. Staff members earn house points for being on time for duty, completing professional development requirements by the due date, and presenting at Genius Bars – teacher-led PD sessions where early adopters share how they’re using LiveSchool.
Faculty meetings include minute-to-win-it competitions where winning staff earn points for their house. “We got to make school fun,” Jamie says – and that applies to the adults too.
The staff component serves a dual purpose. It builds camaraderie among teachers who share a house, and it gives reluctant adopters a reason to engage with the system. When your house is down by 200 points and a colleague mentions that everyone who turns in their PDP on time earns points – you start paying attention.
The Wheel
One of McDougle’s most beloved traditions cost $50 on Amazon: a Price-Is-Right-style spinning wheel loaded with point values. Students vote for Staff Member of the Month via Google Form during advisory. Winners spin the wheel, and those points go to their house.
Every teacher also nominates a Student of the Month. The admin team visits each grade-level hallway – about 15 minutes per grade – and nominated students get their turn at the wheel. Those points go to the student’s house too.
“For our administrative team, it’s really nice for us to be able to be involved in that positive interaction with the student,” Jamie says, “because sometimes we’re not.”
The leaderboard lives on a big television screen in the front office, updating in real time. Every time someone earns a point, a ding sounds and their name flashes on the dashboard. Jamie says the highlight of her day is watching students reroute their path between classes just to check the standings.
“Oh, Isabendí’s in the lead now!” or “How did Altruismo get so many points today?” – the competition has become part of the school’s daily rhythm. McDougle is looking into displaying the dashboard in additional locations around the building because one screen isn’t enough.
48,000 Positive Things
McDougle averages roughly 48,000 points per quarter. Jamie likes to reframe that number: it means 48,000 documented positive interactions every ten weeks.
“Even in those weeks where it seems like it was a rough week at school,” she says, “you can look up at those house points and say positive things are happening here. And we need to be proud of that.”
The data has become Jamie’s most powerful coaching tool. She can identify teachers who aren’t participating and bring them into targeted professional development – not with a mandate, but with a conversation: “What’s not working? Is it that you don’t understand how to use it? Did you miss the initial PD?”
She can also find students earning zero points despite doing great work – and flag them to teachers in PLCs. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe Anna has no points this week – she’s participating like crazy. I’ve got to be more mindful.” That kind of awareness simply didn’t exist with paper bucks.
For students who are struggling, McDougle embeds house points into behavior intervention contracts. If a student doesn’t get an office referral that week, they earn a trip to spin the wheel. “I’m really not trying to look at this with rose-colored glasses,” Jamie says, “but if I have one of my most challenging students get to spin the wheel – it is like magic.”
At the end of each quarter, the leading house is crowned champion. At the end of the year, the cumulative winner earns the ultimate prize: they decorate the cafeteria in their house colors for the entire following year. A constant, visible reminder of what they built together.
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