Kamilah Campbell SAT improved score: A Florida black student has her SAT score invalidated and hires a civil rights attorney. Accused of cheating cause she’s black?
A Florida student whose SAT score improved by over 300 points has hired a famous civil rights attorney after the Educational Testing Services (ETS) invalidated her score.
Kamilah Campbell, 18, from Miami Gardens, said that after getting an initial SAT score of 900 out of 1600 in March, her mom hired a tutor to help her, along with her taking online classes, and buying a copy of the Princeton Review test prep book. Her Oct.6 score ended up at 1230. A score the teen and her lawyer, Ben Crump, argue is the result of hard work, CNN reported.
Following her score increase, Campbell received a letter from ETS reading, ‘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.’
Campbell enlisted the high profile civil rights attorney to help her fight against the testing company after flagging her score. Both Campbell and Crump believe the testing company is accusing her of cheating.
‘My name is Kamilah Campbell. I didn’t cheat,’ Campbell told Local 10 at a press conference on Wednesday.
‘I studied to achieve my dreams, and I know to achieve them, I had to be focused and dedicated. And I won’t let ETS or anyone take my dreams away from me.’
‘They tell you that you need to practice and work and study to do better, but then when you do better they question it,’ Campbell reiterated. ‘They’re saying I improved basically too much.’
A high school senior in Fla. claims she is being unfairly punished after showing a marked improvement on her SAT’s.
18-year-old Kamilah Campbell increased her score by 300 points — only to be later told that it was invalid.
Here’s @Jerickaduncan https://t.co/QNDAWaggQF pic.twitter.com/mHJwUfzcXY
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 2, 2019
Kamilah Campbell a victim of racism?
Crump is an alum of Florida State University, where Campbell hopes to enroll in the dance program. The student’s delayed scores may now preclude her from being able to reach the Jan. 1 college deadline.
A review of Kamilah Campbell’s scores could take anywhere between 4 and 6 weeks.
‘We’re outraged about the accusation, the innuendo that this young black student can’t achieve,’ Crump told CBS. ‘That if she is to have achieved a 1230 on the SAT, then she must’ve done something inappropriate. We reject that allegation.’
Adding, ‘Instead of celebrating her and celebrating her achievement, they are trying to assassinate her character, and we won’t stand for that’.
The superintendent of the Miami-Dade school district, Daisy Gonzalez-Diego responded calling the predicament ‘disturbing’.
‘Although this is a test administered by a private entity, and not M-DCPS, we feel a moral obligation to intervene,’ Gonzalez-Diego said.
Campbell’s high school teacher, Julio Estrada, is also speaking up, saying the student is an honors student and had a 3.1 GPA.
‘[Campbell] struck me as an individual who worked hard to improve her grade in my class,’ he told The Miami Times. ‘During her time in my class, I never witnessed any dishonesty or other issues with integrity coming from her.’
Zach Goldberg, a spokesperson for the College Board, said that tests aren’t flagged on scores alone.
‘The letter never references score gains as a reason for her scores being under review,’ Goldberg told CNN in an email.
Kamilah Campbell will have to retake the test if her score is rejected permanently.
