Early childhood education and care settings consist of educators clustered into classrooms, clustered into centers. Yet, little empirical research has examined variance in the interaction styles of full-time educators who work in the same classroom. In this study we engage in preliminary work to examine variability in children's experiences with different educators. The sample consisted of 172 full-time educators from 86 classrooms. We conducted hierarchical linear modeling using the difference in the interaction styles of the two educators in each classroom as the outcome. Educators’ interaction styles were measured using the Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL-E) scale. Approximately 58% of the variance was accounted for at the classroom level and 42% at the center level. Educators with similar interaction styles tended to be grouped together in classrooms. Classrooms where educators had smaller discrepancies in interaction styles had higher overall quality and a higher percentage of educators with early childhood education degrees, but a bigger difference between educator's highest level of education. These findings highlight the importance of considering educator-level variance in conceptualizing and measuring quality. Implications for how quality of educator/child interaction is conceptualized and measured, and research and policy on oversight and quality improvement are discussed.

幼儿教育和照料场所由教育者组成，这些教育者聚集在教室中，聚集在中心中。然而，很少有实证研究检查在同一教室工作的全职教育者的互动方式的差异。在这项研究中，我们从事初步工作，以检验儿童在不同教育者的经历中的变异性。样本包括来自86个教室的172名全职教育者。我们使用每个教室中两个教育者的交互方式的差异作为结果进行了分层线性建模。使用“响应式学习互动”量表（RIFL-E）来衡量教育者的互动风格。大约58％的差异发生在课堂上，而42％发生在中心层次。具有相似交互方式的教育者倾向于在教室中分组在一起。教育者的互动方式差异较小的教室，其总体素质较高，具有早期儿童教育学位的教育者的比例更高，但教育者的最高教育水平之间的差异更大。这些发现突出了在概念化和衡量质量时考虑教育者水平差异的重要性。对如何概念化和衡量教育者/儿童互动质量的含义，以及有关监督和质量改进的研究和政策进行了讨论。但是教育者的最高学历之间的差距更大。这些发现突出了在概念化和衡量质量时考虑教育者水平差异的重要性。对如何概念化和衡量教育者/儿童互动质量的含义，以及有关监督和质量改进的研究和政策进行了讨论。但是教育者的最高学历之间的差距更大。这些发现突出了在概念化和衡量质量时考虑教育者水平差异的重要性。对如何概念化和衡量教育者/儿童互动质量的含义，以及有关监督和质量改进的研究和政策进行了讨论。