As 7th and 8th grade students blindly grabbed a colored ball out of a box, holding it up with glee before going down a large inflatable slide, the Duquesne City School District began its second year of implementing the Ron Clark Academy house system model.  

The district’s house system — which splits students into four different groups — represents students’ home rooms, headed by one of four teachers: Mr Uram, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Ryan, or Ms. Taylor.  

Students’ blind selection of a ball corresponds to one of four houses: Altruismo (the house of giving), Amistad (the house of friendship), Isibindi (the house of courage), and Rêveur (the house of dreamers). The trip down the slide represents a student's official induction into their new house.

The house system was developed by the Ron Clark Academy, an acclaimed nonprofit middle school in Atlanta, Georgia, revered for its ability to foster a “loving, dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence and fosters leadership.”  

As houses, students build a sense of community and have friendly competitions by way of a point system. Students regularly compete against each other in house challenges — organized by paraprofessionals Desiree Bluett and Jennifer Kraus. Further, students can earn house points regularly for following house rules. A TV monitor on the middle school floor displays house point totals. There is also an application, which parents can access to keep track of house points and communicate with teachers.  

Teachers and students alike are looking forward to furthering continuity with the house system, which was effective in its first year of implementation.  

“I think RCA definitely helped the behaviors down here,” said Mr. Uram, a middle school teacher. “Our main goal last year was to just implement the house system. Having kids in the houses get rewarded points daily, having house challenges, I think we hit that goal. The kids are bought in and the staff is bought in.”  

"They have pride in representing their house. They want to defend their house and get the most house points, and the way to do that is by following house rules. It has made a tremendous difference,” added Jennifer Yocca, the district’s assistant principal.