D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will step down this fall after nearly a decade overseeing a litany of controversial changes to the once-flailing school system in an effort to put it on solid footing.

Henderson, who joined D.C. schools in 2007 and took the reins in 2010 after the abrupt exit of hard-charging Michelle Rhee, ran the system during a period of tumultuous change in K-12 education during which the District became known as a leader in the education reform movement and a darling of the Obama administration.

Today, it’s the fastest improving urban school district in the country, and for the fourth year in a row, graduation rates in the 49,000-student district increased, from 58 percent during the 2013-2014 school year to 64 percent during the 2014-2015 school year.

Under Henderson’s tenure, public school enrollment grew after decades of decline, charter schools thrived, officials shuttered some of the city's worst schools and implemented more rigorous standards and tests, and teachers transitioned to evaluations based in part on student test scores.

“The past nine years have been a true gift,” Henderson wrote in a letter to the D.C. school community. “The things that stand out for me most are not our remarkable statistical accomplishments or our rising test scores. The memories that I hold dear are of the people I have met and the experiences that I have had during my time with DCPS.”

John Davis, the school system’s chief of schools, will serve as interim chancellor when Henderson steps down Oct. 1. And he’ll have his hands full.

Despite being the fastest improving school system, D.C. schools are still in the back of the pack overall, and the District has the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in the country, with 32 percent of students considered chronically absent.