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Discussion
Survey responses revealed two themes—”roles” and “focus”—through an
open-ended question inquiring about teachers’ understanding of student-centered.
Recurring words and phrases such as teachers “guide” or “facilitate” and students
“leading” activities and discussion revealed the
theme of roles in teaching and learning. “Focus”
...the majority [agreed] with became evident with responses including students’
“needs” and “interests” alongside learning involving
a mix of student-centered “active” engagement, “problem-solving” and
“discovery.” The major themes of “roles” and “focus
and teacher-centered as the on teaching and learning” aligned to the definition of
student-centered as involving collaborative efforts
most effective approach. between students and teachers to create open-ended

learning experiences, with the teacher acting as a
guide or co-learner (Hannafin et al., 2014).
Most teachers reported an understanding of the
T-TESS rubric utilized for evaluation and support
in professional development, yet most teachers reported not viewing the T-TESS
as being a valuable tool for providing relevant training and support for growth.
The challenges rural schools encounter due to limitations in funds, resources, and
size (TEA, 2017b) support this disconnect between teachers’ understanding of
student-centered and the T-TESS rubric versus teachers’ perception of the T-TESS
as a professional development tool to support implementation of student-centered
instruction. A more in-depth exploration of the training and support provided based
on teachers’ evaluations could provide insight into specific reasons for the teachers’
perceptions of the T-TESS misaligning with the purpose of the T-TESS.
The teachers’ self-report of the frequency of implementing the approaches aligns
to the majority agreeing with a mix of student-centered and teacher-centered as the
most effective approach. Most teachers’ self-report of frequency for implementing
specific strategies as “sometimes” for active, hands-on learning experiences; tasks,
assignments, or activities students complete in groups; and student choice in learning
experiences aligns to teachers’ perceptions of implementing a mixed method as
most effective. The majority indicated “always” differentiating learning tasks and
instruction, and most indicated differentiating assessments. Such differentiation
suggests meeting students’ needs and interests and thus aligns to teachers’ beliefs
in the efficacy of student-centered approaches as revealed in their definitions of
“student-centered.” Responses including phrases such as “basing how you teach on
what the student needs” and “teaching to the specific needs of my students” revealed
teachers’ beliefs in individualized learning through the tailoring of instruction to
meet students’ needs.
Additional support and training could increase teachers’ implementation of
active, hands-on learning, opportunities for students to use different types of thinking
(e.g., analytical, practical, creative, and research based), and use of open-ended and
higher-ordered thinking questions. One approach could be training sessions that
implement student-centered practices. Similarly to how student-centered science
courses in an educator preparation program increased preservice teachers’ student-
centered instructional practices, engaging current teachers in student-centered
instructional practices during professional development and training sessions could
increase their efficacy in implementation of the student-centered strategies teachers

42 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators