Although teachers' use of quality teacher-student interactions is important for the academic and social development of their students, these types of interactions are not used consistently by teachers in early childhood classrooms. This study was used to explore the education of the classroom teacher as a potential reason for this inconsistency. Since teachers in Illinois can have either a degree in Early Childhood Education or Elementary Education to teach in first and second grade classrooms, the purpose of this qualitative comparative case study was to examine how novice first and second grade teachers perceive the quality of their interactions with their students based upon their educational degrees. Guided by Situated Learning Theory, four teachers with their degrees in Early Childhood Education were compared to the perceptions of four teachers with their degrees in Elementary Education to determine how their teacher preparation programs prepared them for utilizing quality interactions with their students. Data were collected from a survey based on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and a 15-question online questionnaire. Results from the survey showed that both sets of teachers perceived the quality of their interactions to be similar within all domains of the CLASS except for "Instructional Support." Data from the questionnaire were coded and the results revealed four themes, including (a) How the teaching technique was learned within the teacher preparation program, (b) Specific courses where the technique was learned, (c) The teaching technique was learned on the job, and (d) The teaching technique was not learned. The implications of these results are discussed relative to the literature. Recommendations for practice include changes to teacher preparation programs to help pre-service teachers learn to utilize effective interactions. Recommendations for future research include rating and comparing teachers' CLASS scores by degree and to different variables shown to be associated with teacher efficiency. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]