Keller @ Large: Here's Why It Takes So Long To Improve Education

BOSTON (CBS) - Like many big-city school systems, the Washington D.C. schools have struggled with the complicated task of helping kids from impoverished or dysfunctional homes.

But in recent years, there's been progress. As the Washington Post reports: "Enrollment has steadily increased... high school graduation rates have improved, and most students are scoring higher on standardized exams."

But that wasn't good enough fast enough for the former head of the school system, who the Post reports sought to "boost the reputation" of the system by giving preferential treatment for access to the most sought-after schools to the children of the politically-connected, including the former D.C. mayor and a top Obama administration education advisor.

If there's anything that would seem worth doing on its merits, without having to be bribed to do so, it's promoting better-quality education for kids, especially poor kids with few choices. But doing the right thing apparently isn't enough incentive for some of us.

Speaking of people who should know better, how about the recent snub by delegates at the Massachusetts Teachers Association of Sydney Chaffee, a 9th grade teacher from Dorchester who was named National Teacher of the Year but was denied recognition by the teacher union because she teaches at a non-union charter school?

What a disgrace.

There's a special place in purgatory for people who are supposed to be watching out for our kids, but instead are just interested in their own selfish interests.

And with the educational establishment burdened by specimens like these, it's no wonder desperately-needed educational improvement has been so painfully slow in coming.