Kamilah Campbell’s second set of SAT scores were deemed invalid by the national testing company that many colleges use as a requirement for entry.
Campbell, who attends Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School in Miami, and is an honor student, had initially taken the exam in March and scored a 900 without preparation or studying. Once she received her score, Campbell, with her parents, invested in a tutor and she even took online classes, as well as obtained a copy of a The Princeton Review prep book.
She diligently studied and retook the exam. This time she scored 1230 out of 1600 points. Many people would think this would be a great accomplishment. After all, isn’t that what academia teaches students to work hard and study and they should be able to obtain or surpass their goals.
But instead of being celebrated for her hard work, the Educational Testing Services (ETS) and the college board accused her of cheating and invalidated the better score on her SAT. Not only did the ETS invalidate the score but Campbell missed the deadline to apply to her first choice university, Florida State University.
The letter sent to Kamilah Campbell by the ETS stated: “We are writing to you because based on a preliminary review, there appears to be substantial evidence that your scores are invalid. Our preliminary concerns are based on a substantial agreement between your answers on one or more scored sections of the test and those of other test takers. The anomalies noted above raise concerns about the validity of your scores.”
“I did not cheat,” Campbell said fired back during a press conference on Wednesday in Miami. “I studied, and I focused to achieve my dream. I worked so hard and did everything I could do.”
Campbell’s tutor and teachers vouched for efforts as well. The decision wasn’t overturned.
The Campbell family has hired civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, and plan to file a lawsuit against the organizations. His office released a media advisory said partly:
“ETS violated Kamilah’s constitutional right to be considered innocent until proven guilty and denied Kamilah due process.”
