The capacity development approach to reform can revise the curriculum to better prepare
students for the world of work by moving the curriculum to the higher end of the skills
continuum and setting high expectations for student achievement (Tucker, 1996). Beyond
memorization of facts, the learning of complex concepts, principles, and procedures leads to a
higher quality, better prepared workforce that has the skills needed for higher value jobs.
Students are more likely to have a deeper understanding of the curriculum when it focuses on
a smaller number of concepts, principles, and procedures that are at the core of a subject area
than when students and teachers spend their time superficially “covering” a large number of
topics (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).