Sailing into the Future: A Program Evaluation of the Summer Academy to Inspire Learning

Sailing into the Future: A Program Evaluation of the Summer Academy to Inspire Learning is a statistical analysis of the SAIL program began by the economics department of the University of Oregon. This program is designed to encourage pursuit of higher education among local low-income students. The data is divided into two cohorts: a nonrandomized older cohort, and a randomized younger cohort. To perform our analysis, Propensity Score Matching (PSM) is used to create a control group. Then, OLS and probit models are used to determine whether attending the SAIL camp pushes the subjects to become college ready. For the younger cohort, an OLS regression is used to determine how SAIL affects Grade Point Averages (GPA). Our research showed that SAIL attendance, while usually positive, is not significant from zero. This study is intended to provide preliminary results of the program and lay the foundation for future research. Acknowledgments: We wish to thank Professor Bruce Blonigen for his continued advice and support with this analysis. Special thanks as well to Matt Coleman and Jennifer Robinette for their help with this project.