No surprise here, but Rhee's departure is still a huge set-back for DC's long-suffering children.  Perhaps all is not lost, however: Gray is under intense pressure to keep the reform agenda intact and moving forward, so perhaps he'll appoint another reformer (it's a positive step that he's ruled out bringing back Janey):

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will announce Wednesday that she is resigning at the end of this month, bringing an abrupt end to a tenure that drew national acclaim but that also became a central issue in an election that sent her patron, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, to defeat.

Rhee survived three contentious years that made her a superstar of the education reform movement and one of the longest-serving school leaders in the city in two decades. Student test scores rose, and the teachers union accepted a contract that gave the chancellor sweeping powers to fire the lowest-performing among them.

But Rhee will leave with considerable unfinished business in her quest to improve teaching, close the worst schools and infuse a culture of excellence in a system that has been one of the nation's least effective at educating students.

She will be replaced until at least the end of the school year by Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson, a close associate.

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Michelle Rhee to announce resignation as D.C. schools chancellor on Wednesday

On Education: Michelle Rhee on reforming D.C. schools

Michelle Rhee talks with Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews about about D.C.'s school system issues, and what her kids learned from the new documentary "Waiting For Superman."

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

By Tim Craig and Bill Turque

Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 13, 2010; 12:01 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/12/AR2010101205658.html

 

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• On education

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will announce Wednesday that she is resigning at the end of this month, bringing an abrupt end to a tenure that drew national acclaim but that also became a central issue in an election that sent her patron, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, to defeat.