This set of tables examines self-reports of coursework taken by a national probability sample of eighth graders in public and private schools in the United States. Statistics were obtained from the base-year student survey of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). NELS:88 figures on eighth graders provide a baseline for assessing progress in high school. Estimates in the tables are based on a sample of 24,599 students in 1,052 schools across the nation. The estimates project to about 3,008,080 eighth graders in about 38,774 eligible public, private, and Catholic schools during the 1988 school year. Exclusions to the sample are discussed in the technical notes following 45 pages of tables. Three basic sets of tables on self-reported course-taking are provided in the areas of: (1) mathematics, science, and computer education (Tables 1.1 to 1.5); (2) English, foreign language, history, social studies, and religion (Tables 2.1 to 2.5); and (3) arts, vocational education, and personal development (Tables 3.1 to 3.5). Within each set of tables, the first table shows course-taking across all schools. Subsequent tables show course-taking for public, Catholic, independent private, and other private schools. In addition to information about the sample, the technical notes contain information about survey design, response rates, variables used in the tables, and methods for estimating standard errors. An appendix contains unweighted sample sizes for levels of classification variables. (SLD)