The last proposition is the topic of this essay. The first three are more resistant to analysis. We leave them to puerile op-edery. The game plan To find a link between academic achievement and classroom racial composition, we turn to standardized-test programs used in at least 20 states. The tests enable us to gauge the tangible effects of racial diversity.
Regression provides the answer.
Ideally, we want SES and racial mix to be uncorrelated. This is the most important requirement we impose on the data. The greater the correlation between these two variables, the more difficult it will be to separate their influences from one another. If they were perfectly correlated, we could learn nothing about their individual effects. Alternatively, if these variables were uncorrelated, their separate influences could be fully disclosed.