Five years after the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act, which raised the stakes for standardized testing, the Bush administration has released its plans for the next chapter.

The administration's wish list includes keeping the hallmarks of the law -- school accountability based on standardized tests in reading and math -- and making changes to increase its reach, flexibility and ability to improve the lives of students in chronically low-performing schools.

In a conference call from Washington yesterday, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced the administration's priorities, called "Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act." In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Mr. Bush urged Congress to improve the law -- "without backsliding" -- and to reauthorize it.

Proposed changes include:

Holding schools accountable for achievement on science tests, beginning in 2008-09 at three grade levels, with all students to be proficient by 2019-20.

Expanding on the use of growth models, which look at how much a student grows in a school year, not just the final score, to judge schools.

Providing vouchers -- worth an average of $4,000 per student -- to enable students in chronically low-performing schools to transfer to private or other public schools. The money would include both federal Title I money and newly created Promise Scholarships of $2,500 per student.

Setting up "Opportunity Scholarships" within set geographical areas to help students attend private schools through a local scholarship program.

Fostering charter schools, with the department supporting "all viable charter applications that improve academic outcomes" even if the number exceeds any caps states have.

Permitting school administrators in the most troubled schools to transfer teachers as they see fit despite any collective bargaining agreement to the contrary.

Requiring states to develop by 2010-11 course-level academic standards for English and math that "prepare high school students to succeed in college and the global workplace."

Ms. Spellings emphasized the desire to keep the "core principles," which include having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014 and using annual tests and results broken down by race, income and other factors to hold schools accountable.

In a written statement, Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said the department "supports the fundamental purpose of the act,'' but the proposal has "some vague areas where the details will be critical to the success of the implementation."

Amy Wilkins, vice president for government affairs and communication at The Education Trust, which works for equal education opportunities, said she's pleased the administration appears to be "holding the line on an accountability system which demands real progress on gap closing," but agreed there are too few details to tell what some of the proposals mean.

Ms. Spellings said some of the proposals focus on "What are we going to do for kids trapped in schools that underperform?"

One way, she said, would be for students to have a chance to attend better-performing schools, including private schools. Others include flexibility in spending tutoring money or other federal funds.

Mr. Bush also had included a voucher proposal the first time around, but that didn't survive a then-Republican controlled Congress. Some observers think it's even less likely to survive a Democrat-controlled one.

Ms. Spellings said the amount of money for NCLB will be announced next week in Mr. Bush's budget proposal. The blueprint states there will be a "substantial increase" in federal Title I money so that more will go to help high school students.

John Tarka, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and a member of the NCLB task force of the American Federation of Teachers, said, "Unfortunately, I think that much of what we see in the recommendations [is] pretty much the same old song resung." He said the plan still relies too much on standardized tests.

As for vouchers, he said, "It's one guaranteed way to avoid addressing the true problems. ... What we have to do is work to make sure [public] schools are places where parents and children and the community are happy to have their children."

Andy LeFevre, executive director of REACH Alliance in Harrisburg, a school choice advocacy group, said he thinks vouchers "make perfect sense" and would be enough money to help families.

Ms. Wilkins hopes Congress can reauthorize the act early this year before the presidential election cycle is in full swing.

"The important thing to say is 'stay tuned.' Everybody, including the president, is sort of staking out positions," Ms. Wilkins said.

"The positions people stake out early in the legislative process are rarely where we end up at the end of the process."