K-12 Chief Tapped as Education Dept. Takes Shape

As Duncan fills top spots, focus is on "real passion" and entrepreneurial spirit.

Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana knows about low expectations.

After all, as a 1st grader in California, she was assigned to the “Buzzards” reading group—the lowest in her classroom—despite the protests of her Mexican-immigrant parents that she could already read in her native Spanish. In high school, a counselor told her she had no chance of going to UCLA.

Now, she’s U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s pick for assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, in charge of implementing K-12 policy under the No Child Left Behind Act. She was nominated by President...