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Mission

The core mission of the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) is to generate evidence for policymaking that is not only methodologically but also culturally and contextually defensible.

The Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment(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. In this work, CREA recognizes issues of power, privilege, and intersectionality. Using its base at the University of Illinois, the Center provides a resource for organizations and individuals working to better understand and apply cultural responsiveness. CREA seeks to produce a body of informed practitioners, published scholarship, professional development opportunities, technical assistance resources and advocacy, advancing cultural responsiveness across inquiry platforms and settings.

To accomplish its mission, CREA:

Creates opportunities for sharing analyses, illustrations, technical assistance, critiques, and applications of cultural responsiveness;
Sponsors high quality professional development opportunities to inform and stimulate professional practice
Advocates use of cultural responsiveness with sponsors, professional associations, government agencies, philanthropic organizations, school districts, policymakers, and beyond;
Responds to, and critiques, possible distortions and misapplication of the culturally responsive stance, efficaciously engaging these issues when identified;
Holds itself and its affiliates accountable promoting quality indicators of cultural responsiveness across inquiry platforms and applications;
Provides candid, honest collegial feedback throughout the CREA Community to address distortions and inconsistencies, and to promote continued reflection and growth by all;
Encourages scholarly additions to the knowledge base of culturally responsive strategies and applications, and dissemination.