Young Entrepreneur Gives $20K

By COLlive reporter

Mottie Wiener, CEO of DailySteals.com, is sponsoring awards for teachers who participated in the first successful year of Menachem Education Foundation’s Data Driven Instruction program.

Inspired by Norman Atkins, co-founder and CEO of Teacher U, the Menachem Education Foundation created their DDI which emphasizes student learning.

Frequent tests and periodical assessments are used to gather data and ensure students are absorbing the class material.

The program was implemented in the first grades of four Chabad schools in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh; it is now on the verge of completing its inaugural year.

Teachers of those schools will each be receiving a $2500 grant from the $15,000 endowment given by Wiener who hopes the awards will further the idea of goal-centered education in addition to acknowledging the efforts of hard-working teachers.

Another $5000 was appropriated for the DDI program.

“This program focuses on developing standards and goal oriented progress,” says Wiener. “The recognition prizes motivate people to push themselves and develop ambition for teaching and learning, even after the prizes stop.”

As a child growing up in Detroit, Wiener says he “fell through the cracks. I was never taught proper learning skills. Teachers at that time had no way to gauge where I was holding.”

Some of his employees have limited educational experience or felt short of success while in the school system, yet “we frequently hire people from Crown Heights, providing opportunities for people to prove themselves and grow in the process.”

Wiener, 25, acknowledges that despite his financial success, he laments what could have been had he received a more pointed education.

“With this program, we can make sure kids don’t have that issue anymore. They’ll have a better chance at succeeding both during school and beyond.”

Wiener based his online bargain site DailySteals.com on this same concept. “Our whole business is based on giving back to people,” he says.

“We give away prizes regularly on our Facebook page because we realize that reinforcement fosters motivation and, in turn, better communication.”

Rabbi Zalman Shneur, director of the Crown Heights-based Foundation, thanked Mottie Wiener “for believing in education.”

“The most important thing we can do is invest in education and teachers. It’s amazing to work with Mottie because it’s clear to him that we must put all our energy and resources into education. Only through education will other problems be solved.”