This allows there to be no ceiling on the test we get a measure of what the students truly know.

I don't have a problem with testing per se. We have to have some measure of how students are doing and how we as teachers are doing.

We recognize that there may be other ways to measure whether students have the knowledge, but we haven't seen any that are developed and reliable. We're not supportive of any alternative that measures less than the WASL.

The idea of the traverse wall is to give the students that feeling of being challenged with climbing, but if they get nervous, they just have to step down. They are never more than 3 and a half feet off of the floor and there are 8 foot wide mats underneath them.

Its win-win. The non-profits benefit and the students benefit.

Each state has the autonomy or discretion to determine how they will measure whether their students are proficient. PSSA is Pennsylvania's answer.