"The list of finalists is intriguing and we encourage the Department of Education to spend its money wisely by focusing its resources where collaboration with key stakeholders already exists. We have no time to waste and educators must be at the table if we are truly going to turnaround our nation's struggling schools.

"When the winners are announced, we expect collaborative and comprehensive plans to improve schools to be prominent features in each of the state applications. The combination of collective responsibility and collaborative thinking has a track record for yielding results that are positive for students and their schools.

"Our combined efforts focus on the needs of the students, and we want them to be successful in school and in life. Selecting the winners is the beginning to helping thousands of underserved students in our lowest performing schools