The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS) is the third in a series of longitudinal studies sponsored by the Center for Education Statistics of the Department of Education. The NELS focuses on 26,000 randomly selected eighth-grade students constituting a national sample. The study involved administration of a cognitive test to students; surveys of students, parents, school administrators, and teachers; and a base-year data collection period during the spring of 1988, with follow-up surveys at two-year intervals intended to facilitate long-term trend analysis. The purpose and objectives of the teacher survey component of the NELS, survey administration procedures, and results of the field test of the NELS teacher survey undertaken in the spring of 1987 are discussed. The teacher survey links data on specific teacher characteristics and practices with data on the characteristics and educational outcomes of participating students. It gathers data on teacher impressions of individual students, curriculum content, and teacher background and activities. (TJH)