This study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to explore the relationship of teacher quality to student educational attainment by looking at how the quality of a student's eighth-grade mathematics teacher is related to: (1) the highest academic level of mathematics coursework a student completes in high school; (2) high school graduation rates; and (3) postsecondary degree completion rates. It finds that the quality of a student's eighth-grade mathematics teacher is positively related to the three indicators of educational attainment as long as one does not control for the achievement level of the student's eighth-grade mathematics class. When one controls for the achievement level of the student's class, the quality of the teacher is not a significant predictor of attainment. (Contains 5 tables and 15 references.) (Author/SLD)