Deep structural reforms are rare; surface changes are common.
Cuban's finding from a century of American schooling: the grammar of schooling — age-graded classes, periods, subjects — survives reform after reform that changes vocabulary and leaves structure untouched.
In practice
- A school adopts a new curriculum, new assessment and new branding, and the timetable, class sizes and the shape of the day are unchanged.
- A company runs a two-year transformation programme and emerges with the same reporting lines and a new vocabulary.