At the Americans for the Arts 2016 Annual Convention, I joined a conference session entitled “Failure Is So Hot Right Now.” In the lively discussion, one participant shared that a school in her area tells its students the word “Fail” stands for “First Attempt in Learning.” I embrace this interpretation. Failure can be an opportunity to fall back and regroup—and then come back at the challenge with renewed energy, a sharper strategy, and perhaps and a bigger megaphone. 

Last month, the school improvement nonprofit where I work released a case study documenting how Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion (BPS-AE) has successfully bucked the national trend of declining arts education in schools, posting dramatic gains in equitable arts education access in Boston Public Schools (BPS) over the past seven years. Today, 17,000 more BPS students receive arts instruction during the school day compared to 2009 (a 58% increase), with an 80% increase in publicly funded certified arts teaching positions in schools. These are big impact numbers by most measures. Equally important, they have been sustained through several difficult budget cycles. Since we released the report, I’ve gotten reactions from colleagues in other cities and districts ranging from dropped jaws (“How did you do that?”) to discouragement (“We could never pull that off”). 

Granted, that success did take us seven years of considerable effort in a complicated, multi-stakeholder citywide initiative involving 125 schools, 70 nonprofit arts organizations and cultural institutions, the Superintendent’s Office, the Mayor’s Office, and local and national funders, with EdVestors coordinating in close collaboration with the Boston Public Schools.

But here is a little-known fact about BPS-AE’s success: we failed completely before we succeeded.

So what changed between our first attempt in 2005 and our second in 2009?

Looking back, our theory is that a combination of the right leadership, the right plan, and the right timing creates an opportunity to drive momentum in a large scale change initiative. 

The Right Leadership: In retrospect, for that first attempt in 2005, we did not have the right leadership mix to inspire audacious action and then make it happen. At the time, Boston had a terrific superintendent who was strong in many areas but who never truly embraced the benefits of arts education in a school system rife with achievement gaps.

Additionally, EdVestors was only three years old in 2005, and we lacked the credibility and heft to inspire confidence as a potential “backbone” organization to coordinate a major citywide public-private partnership. By 2009, we had developed a reliable reputation and established relationships across schools, nonprofits, funders, and civic leaders. Equally if not more important, a new superintendent had arrived in Boston with deep personal passion for the arts and a track record of insisting that arts education be part of how we define an excellent education for all students. This combination of leadership vision and execution was needed to galvanize and sustain a complicated change initiative.

The Right Plan: We learned the hard way that it is critical to have a clear idea of what problem you are trying to solve in a multi-stakeholder effort, or individual agendas can draw you off track. Our initial discussions in 2005 were all over the map: Should we engage in statewide advocacy or target system improvement in Boston? Should we focus on arts integration as the solution or emphasize the importance of direct arts instruction?

The second time around, we understood the potential pitfalls of a process that was too open-ended at the outset. We brought a stronger point of view on what would become key levers of progress: a firm commitment to structuring the initiative’s goals around equitable student access to weekly arts instruction during the school day backed by transparent data measured regularly. All of our investments and incentives were—and remain—aligned with this primary goal.

We also incorporated deliberate strategies to build buy-in, but without descending into a free-for-all of unrealistic expectations. We started the second planning process with a small circle composed initially of funder, district, and school leaders, and used focus groups and surveys to gather meaningful input. In later stages, we deliberately enlarged the circle of stakeholders, involving more than 100 teachers, school leaders, teaching artists and cultural community leaders, families, and students in shaping the implementation plan to guide the expansion effort. As a result, we were able to build collective ownership in a manageable way to sustain the initiative over time.

The Right Timing: Actually, what we learned in 2009 is that the right leadership and right plan can make the timing right (even when it is not). We started our second planning process in the spring of 2008 and were well underway when the market crashed in the fall. This could have delayed our efforts, in both private fundraising and public investment. But, with a solid vision and plan backed by data, we decided to move forward—and it worked. 

In retrospect, I’m not sure we would have succeeded in 2009 if we hadn’t failed in 2005. It was our First Attempt in Learning, and the lessons we learned positioned us for better lift-off on the second take.