Effectiveness of West Chester Private School as an Open System

Benchmark – West Chester Private School Case Study
Student Full Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Full Title
Instructor Full Name
Due Date
Benchmark – West Chester Private School Case Study
The effectiveness of West Chester Private School (WCPS) as an open system at the time of the closure will be evaluated on the five basic elements of social systems. WCPS was using several kinds of inputs from the environment including human resources, physical resources, information resources, and financial resources. The use of these resources had started dwindling at the time of the closure. Similarly, the school’s transformation process was negatively impacted: the quality of the learning process and the interactions between teachers and students had declined. The effectiveness of WCPS as an open system at the time of the closure was also deteriorated by negative outputs. Some of these negative outputs included poor student growth and achievement levels, lower staff performance and high turnover, worsened school-community relations, high student dropout rates, and declined job satisfaction levels. Moreover, the feedback was largely negative: parents were annoyed, students were confused, and both faculty as well as administration were surprised.
The parents complained that they should have been informed earlier as this would have provided them with enough time to secure a spot for their children at one of the nearby schools. On the other hand, the staff protested that the decision to close the school at the end of the semester should have been made earlier to allow them to find placement in neighboring schools. The late notice had prevented parents from securing places for their children in surrounding schools early enough, and left WCPS faculty together with staff with few employment options. At the same time, the decision to close the school resulted in various negative effects that may have worsened students’ achievement gaps as well as reduced the school’s academic competitiveness in relation to other neighboring schools.
The organizational culture at the time the decision to close the two campuses was made was broken. Rather than capitalizing on the opportunity to expand its business virtually through online learning, WCPS’s leadership was focused on expanding its campuses into Southern California and launching an international baccalaureate program. Moreover, instead of directing their efforts at attracting a higher student enrollment at the two Phoenix locations that eventually had to close, WCPS’s leadership ended up with a failed attempt at expanding into a different state. The new management violated the core values and guiding principles of the two founding families, which had owned the school for 70 years and helped it earn the reputation as a premier K-12 academic institution with an advanced curriculum. Under the administration of the Chandler and Gilbert families, WCPS was known as having a competitive, in-person academic environment that allowed for a demanding curriculum, all while encouraging “a safe, family-oriented atmosphere in a place where community was valued.”
The two families had managed to expand the student population to include five ...