This book describes the design, growth, and replication of New York City's Middle College High School (MCHS). Chapter 1 relates the history of moves to integrate high school and college, the rationale for this reform, and reasons why prior to the 1970s, the movement was confined to very few two-year and independent colleges. Chapter 2 shows how staff at LaGuardia Community College in Queens attempted to realize the goals of open admissions by adapting an innovation heretofore aimed at able students to the needs of high-risk students. It traces the process by which LaGuardia staff obtained city and state approvals for a grade-integrated school at a community college with no prior administrative relationship with the city's public schools. Chapter 3 tells how LaGuardia and MCHS grew up together, overcoming internal resistance, jurisdictional questions, and opposition by local high school principals. Chapter 4 discusses attempts at replicating the school, noting that success depended on the proficiency and commitment of faculty and administrators and on political acumen. Chapter 5 places the middle college movement in the context of current attempts by educators and policymakers to rethink the transition between high school and college. (Contains approximately 380 references.) (SM)