Author: Danny Rubin

Rubin Adds 8 New School Partners, Enhances Propel with Scoring System

May 30, 2025

During the second half of May, Rubin started to work with eight new school districts or tech centers for our employability skills products. The initial users will be advisors of the student group Business Professionals of America (BPA).

The BPA advisors experienced a free sample of Rubin Emerge and Aspire and then decided to purchase the full version for their students in the 25-26 academic year.

The new customers:

1. Vanguard Tech Center in Fremont, Ohio

2. Four County Career Center in Archbold, Ohio

3. West Central Area School District in Barrett, Minnesota

4. Metropolitan District of North Posey County in North Posey, Indiana

5. Moscow School District #281 in Moscow, Idaho

6. Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy in Dallas, Texas

7. Wichita Public Schools in Wichita, Kansas

8. Ovid-Elsie Area Schools in Elsie, Michigan

We look forward to kicking off the relationship in the new school year!

Coming in fall 2025: Scoring system for student emails

Students have written emails for decades, but have they ever received a grade in Gmail for the quality of their emails?

Starting this fall, our Propel email etiquette tool will provide students with a score out of 100 based on their professionalism (see image below).

So when a CTE admin tells you, “Student communication skills are so bad these days,” you can turn around and say, “We have a solution!”

Stat of the week

27.9 points

The nationwide increase in score between Rubin pre- and post-tests for Rubin Emerge units like Email Etiquette-Beginner, Networking Mastery and Job Interview Prep.

The national average pre-test score in Emerge is a 62 (out of 100). The national average post-test score is a 90.
Growth in multiple directions.
Rubin Visits National Corporate Training Conference, Sees Future of AI

May 20, 2025

In the world of secondary education, administrators approach AI with significant caution to protect student privacy and data.

In corporate America, however, the flood gates to AI are wide open. That’s the main takeaway after a day roaming the expansive exhibit call at the annual conference for ATD, a leading association for corporate training and development.

Companies who support many of the nation’s largest companies (ex: Starbucks, Walmart, Amazon) have found creative ways to leverage AI to enhance their tools that train and upskill employees.

We attended ATD with an overarching goal of developing partnerships in the corporate space to license Rubin instructional items. A couple hours into the day, it became clear that the purpose was to observe the different AI use cases and integrations, particularly around using AI for simulated role plays.

We hope to incorporate more AI features into Rubin products in the next 6-12 months, always in a way that’s intentional, adds value and requires students to do.the.work.

Rubin founder Danny Rubin at ATD2025, the leading national conference for corporate training and development.

Danny dons a VR headset and assumes the role of airline ticket counter employee who assists an angry traveler with a canceled flight.
The best of corporate into the classroom.
300+ BPA Advisors Request End-of-Year Activities from Rubin

May 18, 2025

As they say, timing is everything.

In early May, Rubin offered a digital pack of 10 free employability activities to advisors of the national student group, Business Professionals of America (BPA).

Business Professionals of America is the premier CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, information technology, finance, office administration, health administration and other related career fields.

The free offer went out to the BPA advisors on May 6 and, within hours, 300+ advisors requested the resources. It’s often a challenge for teachers to fill class time at the end of the school year, and Rubin is right there to provide high-quality instruction.

Topics from the end-of-year activity packet include:

– How to understand the difference between a text message and an email

– How to write work experience professionally on a resume

– How to email your teacher politely for a reference letter

We are always happy to be a just-in-time resource for teachers and advisors around the country. And we are grateful for our ongoing partnership with BPA.
Timing is everything.
Rubin Attends NAWDP, Builds Connections with Workforce Development

May 9, 2025

On Monday, May 5, Rubin Founder Danny Rubin attended the annual conference for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP).

Would you believe it…the national event happened right in our home base of Virginia Beach!

We want to provide our employability skills resources to workforce development agencies in addition to school districts we already serve. The NAWDP conference is the ideal place to meet with vendors already support workforce boards at a national level. Our goal for 2025 and beyond is partnerships.

In addition to workforce development, the NAWDP community reaches people in correctional institutions who want to gain job skills. These are important audiences where we believe our instruction can be helpful.

We hope to share more news in the coming months from the world of workforce development. The NAWDP conference is the beginning.

Rubin Founder Danny Rubin poses by a lifeguard stand at the annual conference of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP). The conference, hosted in our hometown of Virginia Beach, is the perfect way to develop relationships with vendors who already support workforce boards at a national level.
Branching out to a new audience.
NBA Executive Shares Insights with Intern Contest National Winner

May 3, 2025

America’s Next Great Intern? Meet America’s premier executive for media licensing and partnerships.

On Tuesday, April 29, Rakshana Damodaran, a 9th grader from Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, held a one-on-one conversation with Scott Kaufman-Ross, executive vice president of Media Distribution & Partnerships at the National Basketball Association (NBA).

As the overall national winner of our 3rd annual America’s Next Great Intern contest, Damodaran chatted live with Kaufman-Ross and learned about his fascinating career in professional sports.

Kaufman-Ross discussed his career journey, how high school students can intern with sports organizations and how he became a subject matter expert on sports betting and fantasy sports.

In short, the NBA needed someone on the business team to become proficient in the world of sports betting, and Kaufman-Ross raised his hand as if to say, “I’ll do it.”

A decade later, Kaufman-Ross’s willingness to step out of his comfort zone and learn a new industry has put him at the forefront of media licensing deals for the entire basketball league.

We appreciate Kaufman-Ross and the time he spent with Damodaran. Bookmark our contest page and stay tuned for the 2026 edition — a new top prize forthcoming!

In the image above, NBA executive Scott Kaufman-Ross (bottom left) speaks on April 29 with 9th grader Rakshana Damodaran (bottom right, winner of the 2025 America’s Next Great Intern contest). A sign language interpreter (standard practice for all Rubin webinar conversations) is in the upper left while Rubin founder Danny Rubin (upper right) guides the discussion.

Tips from the top of the game.
Dream Job Ep. 87: TV News Journalist

April 29, 2025

Join Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin, as he talks with Kathy Park, NBC News correspondent, and Domonique Benn, an anchor at KSLA News 12 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Kathy and Domonique share their respective journeys in the world of TV journalism, why curiosity is a critical skill on the job, how students can enter the field in high school and much more.

ASL provided.

Worksheets coming soon
Join Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin, as he talks with Kathy Park, NBC News correspondent, and Domoniq…
Johnston County (NC) Students Pilot Updated Version of Propel

April 28, 2025

Our thanks to a class of 9th grade students at Johnston County (North Carolina) Public Schools for piloting the latest version of our Propel email etiquette tool for Gmail.

We provided the students with an upgraded version of Propel on Monday, April 21 and gained feedback on Monday, April 28.

The overall takeaways:

– The students like the new Propel version and how it gives more tailored examples for the email message.

– The students also like the new scoring system and how the score improves when the student uses a green light bulb to correct an issue.

– Technical issues we need to work through:

1. Improve how a student moves from section to section in the email and not get the cursor stuck in a single spot.

2. Make sure the floating boxes with email writing samples don’t infringe on the email writing area.

You can see the newest version of Propel here.

We hope to roll out the newest version of Propel to all Rubin customers in fall 2025.

In the latest version of Propel, students begin the email by selecting the recipient and type of message. From there, Propel provides a tailored email example for the student to follow.
Listening hard to the feedback.
At Prince William Schools Workshop, Rubin is Glue between CTE, EL

April 25, 2025

On April 24 in Prince William County (Northern Virginia), the Rubin team was part of a day-long workshop with CTE teacher leaders to determine ways Rubin employability content can bridge CTE and English Learners curricula.

Prince William County Schools, the second-largest school district in Virginia, wants to make sure non-native English-speaking students can comprehend and excel at important communication skills for college and career.

Rubin is privileged to be the resource that sits at the intersection of English Learners objectives and the needs of the CTE community.

Prince William County Schools CTE teachers develop a lesson plan that combines a Rubin Emerge activity (ex: How to Leave a Voicemail) with the scaffolding necessary to teach the lesson to a non-native English speaking student.

Prince William CTE Supervisor Christine Good said it best from her post on LinkedIn:

“Student achievement begins with adult behaviors.

When the adults in the room share a compelling vision and actively engage in critical thinking, collaboration, innovation, digital citizenship, and demonstrating resilience through their work, the conversations are rich and the outcomes are powerful. This dynamic team of teacher leaders is committed to creating the conditions for student success within and beyond the classroom!

The collaboration between the Career and Technical Education (CTE) and the English Learner (EL) Instruction teams is Learning and Achievement for All in action as we prepare all staff members to support and challenge all students.

Imagine what our classrooms and schools might look like if we shift the conversation from “all students” to “each and every student.” Small shifts leveraging high impact instructional strategies have the power to transform the learning environment for each and every student, every day.

Special thanks to Grant Bradfield, Katie Min, Danny Rubin, and Shawnell Carmichael for leading a packed and impactful day of learning, and a big shoutout to the entire hashtag#PWCSCTE team Sarah Martin, Ph.D., Tim Vaughan, Nasir Ayoub, Danielle Meyer, Benjamin Stodola, and Diana Collins for working tirelessly behind the scenes to make opportunities like this possible.

Looking forward to the 2025-26 school year!”

Rubin Founder Danny Rubin (center) stands with Prince William County Schools (PWCS) Curriculum Supervisor Christine Good (left) and Supervisor of EL Instruction Kristine Lentz-Johnston. Rubin is collaborating with PWCS to connect workplace readiness skills with the needs of English learners.
Every student deserve a chance at success.
Rubin Featured in “Mini Doc” by Regional Entrepreneurship Engine

April 22, 2025

This week, Rubin is the featured “mini-doc” by InnoVAte Hampton Roads, a resource network for startups in Southeastern Virginia.

In the video, Rubin founder Danny Rubin and Director of Instruction Alexis Kruemcke discuss the work we do with educators and students across the country to strengthen employability skills. In the video, we also hear from elected officials in Virginia Beach, where Rubin is based, on the value of our company’s resources for the next generation.

Give the video a watch here!

Telling our story.
Virginia 9th Grader Wins America’s Next Great Intern
April 15, 2025

Fairfax County’s own Rakshana Damodaran is America’s Next Great Intern. The 9^th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was one of 13 finalists selected to showcase top-tier communication skills essential to an internship.

Second place: Shannon Jenkins, 12th grade at Boone High School in Boone, Iowa

Third place: Jordan Blair, 12th grade at Blaine High School in Anoka, Minnesota

Rakshana’s teacher, Jane Iyengar, receives a $250 cash prize to support her classroom.

Rubin, the leader in online curriculum for employability and workplace readiness skills, hosted the competition.

The submission period for the America’s Next Great Intern contest ran throughout February 2025, which is National Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. All middle school, high school and post-secondary CTE students were eligible.

The instructions were drawn from Rubin’s Emerge curriculum, a broad library of online exercises for employability skills like email/phone etiquette, job interview prep, LinkedIn communication and more. Rubin provides Emerge to CTE programs nationwide.

A panel of judges from the Rubin team assessed the students across three areas:

Email Etiquette:Demonstrate a professional-grade email based on fictional, work-related scenario.

Research and Critical Thinking:Learn to develop meaningful questions ahead of a fictitious internship interview.

Ethical Dilemma:Provide a response to a tricky ethical situation you might face as an intern.

“Employers often lament that students don’t possess the ‘soft skills’ necessary to engage in an office setting or on the job site,” says Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “We hope the contest shows that, yes, there are motivated young people coast to coast who will add value to any business or organization.”

For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Danny Rubin at danny@rubineducation.com.

About Rubin:

Rubin is the leader in online instruction for employability and work readiness skills. The company, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, provides Emerge, a digital curriculum that teaches effective writing and speaking skills, to thousands of students in middle school, high school and higher education. Rubin also has a soft-skill notification tool for email writing called Propel.

Founded in 2017 by Danny Rubin, a former CBS television news reporter and consultant to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubin teaches students nationwide critical lessons for email/phone etiquette, networking, team communication, leadership communication and more. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”
The best of the best,