This CD-ROM contains public release data from the National Education Longitudinal Study:1988 (data files and updated electronic codebook for the Base Year (1988) through Fourth Follow-up (2000) of NELS:88). Data from the Fourth Follow-up interview in 2000 will permit researchers to examine what this cohort had accomplished 12 years after the eighth-grade baseline survey. The 2000 data were collected at a key stage of life transitions for the eighth-grade class of 1988-most had been out of high school for nearly 8 years. Many had already completed postsecondary education, started or even changed careers, and started to form families. This CD-ROM contains only the sample surveyed in the year 2000. For any analysis using only data collected prior to the Fourth follow-up, the NELS:88/94 CD-ROM (NCES# 2000328) is needed.