Many educators believe the role of vocational education is to prepare students for work in a given trade or vocational area with the focus on job skill training. Some contend vocational education should concentrate more broadly on all aspects of students' career development, including lifelong learning, employability, and cognitive skills. One way to expand the focus of vocational education is through the integration of academic and vocational education. Some states, such as Ohio, have redesigned their vocational education curricula to address state skill standards that have been expanded to include the academic competencies and skill levels needed to enter a given occupation or occupational area. Interdisciplinary curricula are another form of academic/vocational integration that has gained interest across the country. A comprehensive educational program must show the correlation between learning to work and learning to think. Connecting content of knowledge with the context of application enables students to expand their ability to solve problems. Constructivism requires that teachers follow practices that lead students to engage in higher-order thinking. The concepts of career development offer an expanded focus for vocational education, one that extends to include transitional components such as academic skills, productive work habits, work values, and career decision-making skills. (Contains 11 references.) (YLB)