CREA: Embodying Cognitive, Cultural and Interdisciplinary Diversity
After 12 years as an established strategic initiative of the College of Education, in fall 2023 the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment was designated a permanent research center of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.
CREA’S Mission
The mission of the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment is to generate evidence for policymaking that is not only methodologically but also culturally and contextually defensible. CREA is an international community of scholars/practitioners that exists to promote a culturally responsive stance in all forms of systematic inquiry including evaluation, assessment, policy analysis, applied research and action research.
CREA is an interdisciplinary endeavor that brings researchers together from across the College and University, as well as domestic and international research partners, to address the growing need for policy-relevant studies that take seriously the influences of cultural norms, practices, and expectations in the design, implementation, and evaluation of social and educational interventions.”
— Denice Ward Hood, Director of the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment
Our work has the ability transform the way teachers and schools view students, thus impacting how young people see themselves and their learning environments.”
Valencia Clement is a first-generation Haitian-American artist, activist and researcher, and the inaugural Stafford Hood Fellow of Culturally Responsive Assessment at the Center for Measurement Justice.