This report charts a brief history of the comprehensive high school in the United States designed particularly to highlight those key decisions that make them what they are. The first and longest part of the paper is organized chronologically into sections with the following headings: 1600-1890--Getting Started; 1890-1920--Basic Reform/Social Efficiency; 1920-1940--Reorientation/Being Progressive; 1940-1960--Reaction/Subject Centering; 1960-1980--Relevance/Equity; and 1980s--Return to Basics/Excellence. Within each section, key statements, studies, decisions, and changes are cited along with analysis of their reasons, actors, and consequences where apparent. The second part of the paper analyzes and summarizes the preceding descriptions of the development of the comprehensive high school in the United States. The following characteristics are examined: (1) growth in size of population served; (2) definition of comprehensive high school; (3) purpose of comprehensive high school; (4) recommended curriculum; (5) recommended methods of instruction; (6) important issues debated; and (7) source of leadership in the national commissions and study groups reviewed in this paper. These characteristics are summarized in a table for the time periods addressed. The report also lists the following issues concerning the comprehensive high school: purpose, curriculum that best follows from the purpose, instructional methods best used to teach the curriculum, and high school organization. Thirty-four references are listed. (YLB)