Abstract: This dissertation explores the idea of integrating high school and community college from historical and policy perspectives. Focusing in particular on the three major incarnations of this idea---the 6-4-4 plan of public school organization, the middle college movement, and the more recent early college high school initiative---Part I analyzes primary and secondary documents in order to describe the implementation, replication, successes, failures, and in some cases, disappearance of institutions integrating high school and community college coursework. Part II relies on Tyack and James' (1986) notion that examining changes in state policy over time can provide a road map of the forces that shaped the development and evolution of public schools and colleges. In particular, Part II analyzes changes in the education codes in four states---California, Arizona, New York, and Florida---between 1907 and 2006, paying particular attention to policies in the areas of community college governance and funding, school autonomy, teacher and faculty certification, dual enrollment and college eligibility, and school-college collaboration. Part III connects the first two sections, examining the role of state policy in inhibiting or supporting the 6-4-4 plan, middle college high schools, and the early college initiative. In particular, Part III describes how state policies important to the integration of high school and community college education evolved over the past century, first in ways that disassociated the community college from its origins as an extension of the local high school, then in ways that encouraged the institution to play a prominent role in improving secondary education and moving more students into college and careers. Although further policy evolution may be necessary if early college high schools are to be widely implemented, shifts toward seamless K-16 state education systems and legislation allowing students to earn some college credit while still in high school may allow early colleges to become permanent and prevalent fixtures in American public education. The dissertation concludes with implications for research, practice, and policy.