Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark T. Bedell, Ed.D. is a talented, caring teacher and administrator and one of the top urban public-school leaders in the United States. As the child of a working-class family in upstate New York, he overcame significant challenges and was inspired to take his education seriously by teachers and other caring adults who pushed him to achieve his dreams. Dr. Bedell was a multi-talented youth who leveraged his basketball skills and grades into an opportunity to study at Fisk University, where he excelled in the honors program and became one of the nation's leading scorers in NCAA Division III. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1997. He went on to earn a Master of Education degree in educational leadership and administration from Tennessee State University in 2000.