Strom, an associate professor of educational psychology in the Department of Education Foundations, Leadership and Technology, has done his part to change that culture by using student opinion to improve school effectiveness. Following up on "Polling Students About Conditions of Learning,'' a research collaboration with Dr. Robert Strom and Charlotte Wing of Arizona State University, Strom devised polls in 12 categories to help middle school, junior high and high school administrators better understand student perceptions of learning conditions.

The surveys, available at LearningPolls.org  , allow school administrators to make better-informed decisions by incorporating student opinions. Students can be polled  about one or more of the following topics: Internet learning, tutoring, time management, cheating, stress, cyberbullying, peer support, career exploration, dress codes, frustration levels, boredom, and student responsibilities.

The polling enables officials at individual schools to assess student attitudes about a broad range of issues, to understand trends and to make sound policy decisions based in part on the survey results. For example, a student poll about Internet learning may enable administrators to find ways to better integrate technological tools as learning resources. Other polls may be used to help shape disciplinary standards for cheating or enable school officials to better understand why some students are reluctant to seek out tutoring assistance.

"The reason why these polls are important is because, at each school, you have to assess the norm,'' Strom said. "These polls, at this point in time, are not intended to assess a national norm. They're intended for use by schools, individually, to assess their sites. ... It demonstrates to the kids that, 'we're asking you because we care.'''

Strom said it's particularly important for superintendents, principals and teachers to communicate effectively with students because technological innovations have created as many barriers as they have opportunities. With the explosion of iPods, cell phones, text messaging and social networking Web sites, teenagers understand more about technology than many of the adults teaching them and have shown a heightened preference for the Internet as source for learning.

Strom explores the latter issue in depth in the book "Adolescents in the Internet Age,''  co-authored with his father, Robert, a professor of educational psychology at Arizona State. The book is in press with Information Age Publishing.

"Every generation has its own culture,'' Strom said.

Strom, who once taught in public high schools in Arizona, said he and his research partners were pleased with the response rates of the polls administered in that state. Strom said that between 60 and 90 percent of the students in the rural Arizona schools where the polls were administered participated.

Strom said he and his research partners work with principals and superintendents to develop the polls and administer them. Teachers serve as poll proctors for the students, who typically complete the surveys in computer labs. Students receive a password and entry code, guaranteeing anonymity and ensuring that they vote no more than once. Strom said the construction of the polls also enables administrators to learn how student responses vary along the lines of age, gender and ethnicity.

Results are calculated in real time, with data presented in bar graphs. At some schools, poll results have been read over the morning announcements or posted on cafeteria bulletin boards as a way of emphasizing the value of student opinion.