Described are the background, rationale, research design, data collection, analysis, and findings of the Classroom Strategy Study, an investigation of 98 elementary school teachers' general strategies for coping with problem students and their ways of dealing with typical problem behaviors associated with each of 12 types of problem students. Working in the public schools of either a small or large city, participating teachers were nominated by their principals as either outstanding or average in dealing with problem students. Problem students were categorized as: (1) failure prone; (2) perfectionist; (3) underachiever/alienated; (4) low achiever; (5) hostile-aggressive; (6) passive-aggressive; (7) defiant; (8) hyperactive; (9) distractible; (10) immature; (11) peer-rejected; and (12) shy/withdrawn. In general, findings of the study indicated that the higher rated teachers expressed more willingness to become personally involved in working with problem students, more confidence in their ability to elicit significant improvement in the problem behavior, and a richer description of long-term prevention or solution strategies. Qualifications and elaborations of the general findings revealed the way general strategies interacted with situational and context factors. Additionally, differences were found between effective practices in early versus later grades and small versus large schools. (RH)