J. Lupton Simpson spent almost 40 years as an educator in Loudoun County public schools and was respected by both his students and the community. He died in 1967. When the middle school on Evergreen Mill Road opened in 1974, it took his name.

“He felt every day was an opportunity to create a difference in a child’s life,” said former principal John Bannister, who retired in summer 2007.

At J.L. Simpson Middle School, teachers work hard to prepare their students for high school and beyond. Eighth-grade students have the opportunity to take foreign language classes in French, Spanish, German or Latin. There is also a heavy emphasis on technology, with four computer labs and four computers in every classroom. The library also has a hub of computers available for research.

Art and music are important parts of student life. In sixth and seventh grades, students have the opportunity to take classes focusing on one or two instruments, like flute and clarinet. When they are in eighth grade, they have the opportunity to join the full band. The school puts on a Broadway musical every year, and has been doing so for nearly 20 years.

Although there are no sports teams, there are a variety of after-school clubs students can get involved with. After-school activities include chess club, Odyssey of the Mind and a mentoring program. The PTO sponsors a number of activities, including ice skating, tubing at a local ski resort, ice cream socials and swimming. Parents also frequently volunteer at the school, Bannister said.

Students who are not native English speakers are taught in both self-contained classes as well as in the regular classroom. Although Spanish speakers make up the majority of ESL students, about a dozen languages are represented, Bannister said. All ESL students are assimilated with the regular program as quickly as possible, he said.

Like all schools in the district, J.L. Simpson Middle is working to meet their annual yearly progress and SOL exam goals, Bannister said.

“As we continue to improve our instructional techniques and get better at training students as far as test-taking skills, I’m sure that our scores will go up,” he said.

As noted in their 2006-2007 school improvement plan, J.L. Simpson -- in conjunction with a district-wide emphasis on improving SOL math scores – intends to improve math scores across the board. According to the improvement plan, the pass rate for the Algebra I EOC test was 99 percent and 100 percent for the Geometry EOC test. Eighty percent of eighth-grade students who took the Math EOC test passed. The pass rate for students labeled as “economically disadvantaged” was at 34 percent.

Ninety-three percent of eighth-grade students scored at proficient levels on the science SOL; 83 percent of eighth-graders passed the English SOL; 93 percent of eighth-graders passed the writing SOL. The writing SOL had the highest pass rate for the various subgroups, with 79 percent of black students, 74 percent of Hispanic students, 71 percent of students with disabilities and 72 percent of economically disadvantaged students passing.

“I think that there is always room for improvement so we are constantly striving to do better, whether it’s socially or academically, in whatever way, to do a better job for our students,” Bannister said. “Things get more complicated as years go by because life gets more complicated for our students. But we are searching for a way to keep up and constantly improve.”