There are no formal political means of control or accountability for private testing firms to local school districts. The role of school districts as consumers of these firms was studied. A description of the method of this study was divided into three sections. These included site selection, conduct of field research, and recording and analysis of data. The kinds of test school districts bought would influence what private testing firms produced. The standards by which districts selected and purchased standardized norm-referenced educational achievement tests were examined. The marketplace, rather than formal governance arrangements for meeting local school district testing needs, was discussed. Formal government agencies at the national level were limited in the extent to which they could claim formal responsibility for developing a national test of educational achievement. Since formal authority over education is the responsibility of the state or local government, its national role would be constrained in the development or regulation of a national test. It was concluded that in the case of achievement testing, the marketplace may provide a degree of public control that formal public decision making and politics cannot. (DWH)