We need transformative change in K-12 education to address challenges and inequities facing the world. This talk explores traditional approaches to educational design, considering limitations of these approaches in supporting incremental improvements to efficacy and efficiency rather than transformative change. Guided by contemporary theory and research from design fields, we propose a framework for K-12 educators’ stances towards design organized along a continuum from technical rational to designerly. This framework is used to analyze a case study examining 28 pre-service teachers’ conceptualization and engagement in design within the context of a design course taken by over 400 pre-service teachers. Our analysis demonstrates that most participants adopted a technical rational or exploratory stance towards design. We propose ways pre-service teachers could be supported in adopting more stakeholder-centered approaches to design.