OUR MISSION
Dedicated to improving evidence-based decision making through rigorous and actionable research, program and policy evaluation, and assessment services.
ABOUT
CREA was founded in 2004 to serve the research, evaluation, and assessment needs of the UNLV College of Education. Since that time, we have expanded to include successful partnerships with local Southern Nevada organizations, state and national agencies in and outside of education, and higher education institutions. With a proven track record in the planning and implementation of high-quality research, evaluation, assessment, and data-analytic projects, we design and conduct rigorous fieldwork to improve understanding of programs and practices that contribute to the development of educators, students, and other partners, customizing projects to fulfill each client’s needs.
Who you’ll be working with
Bradley D. Marianno, Ph.D.
Faculty Director
Dr. Marianno is an Associate Professor of educational policy and leadership and Faculty Director of the UNLV Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (CREA). Marianno’s research focuses on the consequences of education policy change for educational governance and student outcomes with a substantive focus on local, state, and federal teacher policy. His work has appeared in several policy journals including Economics of Education Review, Policy Studies Journal, Educational Policy, and AERA Open. He has provided expert opinion to media outlets like Education Week, The74, NPR, and Time. He graduated with his Ph.D. in urban education policy from the University of Southern California (USC). He also holds master’s degrees in sociology and economics from Brigham Young University and USC, respectively.
Megan Griffard, Ph.D.
Associate Faculty Director
Dr. Griffard is an Assistant Professor of educational policy and leadership and Associate Faculty Director of the UNLV Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (CREA). Griffard’s research focuses on education finance and policy, educator working conditions, and disruptions to schooling, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate disasters. Her work has appeared in several policy journals, including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, AERA Open, Children and Youth Services Review, and the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. She has provided expert opinions to media outlets such as Vegas PBS, KNPR, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Vegas CBS, and served as an expert witness in legal proceedings on behalf of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Education, focusing on policy, leadership, and school improvement, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also holds an M.S. from Northwestern University, an M.Ed. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a B.A. from Boston College.
Mark Spinrad, Ph.D.
Managing Director
Dr. Spinrad is the Managing Director of the UNLV Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (CREA). Since earning his Ph.D. in higher education from UNLV, Mark joins CREA with research interests in education policy, faculty labor, and organizational culture, as well as qualitative methodologies. Priorly, he taught qualitative and introductory research methods, as well as institutional assessment. He also holds a master’s degree in English Composition with an emphasis in developmental literacy and has taught all levels of undergraduate literacy courses.
Research Associates
Amanda Hoffman, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Dr. Hoffman is a Senior Research Associate with CREA, focused mainly on quantitative methodologies. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Missouri in 2022.
Prior to joining CREA, Amanda taught introductory research methods and statistics courses in the College of Education at UNLV. Her research interests include item level analysis and psychometrics, the teaching of research methods, and academic motivation for college athletes.
Wilson Hatcher, M.Ed.
Research Associate
Wilson has called Las Vegas home for over 30 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies, a master’s in Higher Education, and is working on a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.
His research interests include quantitative analysis of large datasets. He spent his early career teaching English language and standardized test prep in Japan and Thailand. He served in advising, recruitment, and retention roles at both the College of Southern Nevada and UNLV. He is happy to join the team at the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment. Off campus, you can usually find him playing with his cats, Kimchi and Shoyu.
Graduate Assistants
Anel Rojas
Graduate Assistant
OUR SERVICES
We are a major academic center that provides expert, nonpartisan program and policy evaluation and assessment services for decision-makers in national, state, and local organizations. We also provide expert consultation on qualitative and quantitative research design for researchers here in Nevada and around the world.
ANALYSIS & EVALUATION
We offer evaluation design and planning services within several sectors and focus areas. These services are customized to each project that CREA undertakes to provide the most extensive and effective research design.
DATA SERVICES
Extensive data services for research and evaluation are provided by a team that specializes in data collection and analysis. Services include data cleaning, analysis, and validation that can be applied to several research and evaluation projects.
DESIGN & PLANNING
We can assist with data collection and tool design. Experienced researchers can create custom data collection tools and provide on-the-ground, local data collection tailored to meet the needs of your project.
COMMUNICATION
We provide detailed communication services to assist with data and findings reports to meet the needs of all audiences. These services include report writing, management, and data visualization tools.
Power-Based Violence in Nevada Higher Education
On behalf of the Nevada System of Higher Education, CREA is conducting a multi-year study to redesign and pilot a systemwide power-based violence climate survey for Nevada’s higher education institutions. The project includes reviewing existing measures, collecting and analyzing statewide survey data, and delivering reports and recommendations to the Board of Regents to strengthen prevention and response efforts across campuses.
CCSD Title I Evaluation: Read by Grade 3
CREA continues to support external evaluation efforts for the Clark County School District Title I programming. For the 2025-26 school year, UNLV CREA will analyze the impact that the district’s early literacy programming has on elementary student literacy outcomes.
Evaluating Nevada’s Pupil-Centered Funding Plan via SLDS
In collaboration with Nevada Department of Education, CREA is conducting a four-year study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Using the newly modified Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS), CREA will conduct an in-depth evaluation of trends in school-level per-pupil expenditures over time. Project outcomes will improve understanding of the shift in school-level expenditures following the transition to Pupil-Centered Funding Plan (PCFP) that will allow Nevada policymakers to make informed decisions about school finance resource allocation.
Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy: SEBPIL Program
CREA provides professional services to the Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy (GOE) and its State Energy Program – Energy Workforce Development (SEPBIL) project. In its SEBPIL Program Gap Analysis and Feasibility study, CREA identified the communities that qualify as disadvantaged (DAC) across the state, assessed availability and gaps in Energy Efficiency Workforce sectors, cross-checked available training and certification programs, and identified other items necessary for further implementation of equitable, data-informed, and community-led clean energy workforce development program throughout the State of Nevada.
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An Evaluation of Nevada’s Pupil-Centered Funding Plan
In conjunction with the shift to the new pupil-centered funding formula, the Nevada legislature approved general fund appropriations for an external evaluation to determine the impact of transferring certain state K-12 categorical programs (i.e., Zoom, Victory, and SB 178) into the PCFP and to measure the effect these transfers had on schools and students that the K-12 categorical programs previously targeted. In this report, CREA presents the results of our evaluation of the impact of the Nevada Pupil-Centered Funding Plan.
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CCSD Title I Evaluation: Innovative Middle Schools
CREA investigated the impact of teacher recruitment and retention bonuses and performance compensation on academic and non-academic outcomes for CCSD’s Innovative Middle School Program, a three-year pilot program designed to improve student achievement and retain teachers invested in growing and sustaining a positive culture in schools
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