Following the defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primaries of the D.C. mayoral elections, there will be a change in the D.C. public schools system: Chancellor Michelle Rhee is stepping down later in October, ending weeks of controversy, and will be replaced by Georgetown alumna Kaya Henderson (SFS ’92).

Rhee officially announced her resignation on Wednesday. At the press conference, mayoral candidate Vincent Gray, standing with Fenty and Henderson, announced Henderson as Rhee’s replacement.

Henderson will serve as interim chancellor, until January when Gray will take office, should he win the general election and officially appoint her to the position as expected.

Prior to her appointment, Henderson served under Rhee as deputy chancellor. The two have many of the same goals when it comes to education reform, namely that poverty should not affect academic performance, according to The Washington Post.

Henderson attended Georgetown University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and a Master of Arts in leadership. Before her appointment as deputy chancellor, Henderson was involved in several different programs to foster academic reform. She began as a member of the Teach for America corps, teaching Spanish to middle school students. Over time, she served as a recruiter, the national director of admissions, and finally the executive director for Teach for America D.C.

During Henderson’s time at Teach for America, the number of Georgetown alumni working for Teach for America reached record levels, according to Georgetown Alumni Online.

Henderson then went on to join The New Teacher Project, where she served as vice president and launched the D.C. Teaching Fellows Program. The program was just one of several alternative certification programs founded by Henderson.

Rhee had participated in both the Teach for America program and The New Teacher Project as well. When she became chancellor, Henderson was Rhee’s first appointment. Rhee described her as a critical and innovative thinker.

“She’s everything you’d want in a leader,” Rhee said on the day of Henderson’s appointment.

During a news conference after the announcement was made, Henderson told reporters, “I’m excited about where we are, and I’m thrilled that the management team has agreed to stay on to continue this process.”

Nathaniel Roloff, director of Georgetown University’s DC Reads, a tutoring program for D.C. public schools, confirmed that sentiment.

“It takes moxie to be a leader that does unpopular things, but we have every reason to believe that Kaya has what it takes to do what she feels is right despite a lack of popularity. I believe that her current relationship to Vincent Gray [the presumptive mayor] will be good for the schools,” Roloff wrote in an email. “Her appointment suggests that similar reform will be in place, Gray will listen and advise rather than micromanage, and the reforms that earned D.C. the Race to the Top funds will continue.”

Former chancellor Rhee has been the focus of both acclaim and criticism for her strong approach to reform, closing 20 schools within her first year in office and replacing many administrators. The reforms made D.C. a winner in the Race to the Top, a grant program for struggling schools set up by the Obama administration, but also alienated many teachers. According to Roloff, Rhee did not have a choice except to be tough.

“The chancellor, instead of hiding from it, embraced [the reality of a test score- driven culture] and made it possible to build schools from on top of the test score regime, rather than crumble beneath it,” Roloff said.

Roloff also said that he does not necessarily agree with some of her proposed changes or actions and that Henderson seems to want to follow Rhee’s vision. While serving as deputy chancellor in 2008, Henderson was instrumental in the controversial firing of 98 members of the central staff, according to The Washington Post.