Statewide information concerning the Connecticut eight-grade public school students who particpated in the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) in the spring of 1988 is presented. Over 900 students in 46 schools in 35 school districts, almost evenly divided between males and females, completed cognitive tests and student surveys about demographics and a range of additional topics. The same students are being tested in 1990 and will be followed biennially through 1994. About one-third (36.3%) of the students were considered educationally at risk, with Black students and Hispanic students more likely to have one or more identified risk factors. Seventeen percent of the students had repeated at least one grade. A large majority (86.5%) planned to attend public high school; 1 in 10 planned to attend a private high school. One-third (32.2%) planned to enter a college preparatory program, while 73.4% planned to attend college. Outside of school, students spent more time watching television than doing homework, and stated that music and sports were their most popular extracurricular activities. Suburban students were more likely to consider drugs a serious problem in their schools than were non-suburban students. About 81% felt that the quality of teaching at their schools was good. Black and Hispanic students were more likely to feel good about themselves than were White students. Eight data tables and 11 graphs summarize the NELS data. (SLD)