High school student experiences and impact of a college preparatory program in puerto rico during the 1960s

The purpose of this article is to look at the history and student outcomes of a college preparatory program for talented students in high school developed by Puerto Rico’s Department of Education in the 1960s. This study is based on ten semi-structured interviews of students who participated in the program. Our findings strongly suggest the program was successful in enhancing the academic skills of its students and played a role in the long-term educational and occupational mobility of its students. Students’ narratives portray the presence of strong bonds with teachers that led to the accumulation of social and cultural capital leading to the formation of postsecondary educational goals and substantial occupational achievements in our sample. Students obtained cultural capital by participating in extracurricular activities sponsored by the program such as visiting museums and engaging in conversations with poets and novel-ists. They attended smaller classes and benefitted from an advanced curriculum that challenged their cognitive skills and developed their critical thinking skills.