When Rubin Spark came on the scene in March 2026, Gary Grammer and his students in Las Cruces, New Mexico were among the first people to give the product a test drive.
Spark is a platform for simulated conversation with professionals in all CTE pathways. Scenarios include a “day in the life” discussion and mock interview.
Grammer said his students took to Spark immediately and enjoyed the free-flow nature of the conversations. The AI-generated “Spark mentors” ask probing questions and take the students deep into the particular field.
Listen to Grammer’s comments below and then book a demo to experience Spark for yourself!
Rubin instructional resources are designed to be practical and easy to apply in the real world.
For proof, look no further than the 2026 Mississippi HOSA state conference, which took place March 4-6 in Hattiesburg. Over the three days, students compete in categories around health education, medical knowledge and leadership skills.
Three students from Connie Rolison’s HOSA chapter in Biloxi each won 1st place in their respective categories: Health Education, Health Career Display and Medical Innovations. The students will now vie for national honors in June at the HOSA International Leadership Conference.
Rolison believes Rubin’s public speaking curriculum gave her students an edge, as all three competitive events require a formal speech before judges. Rolison integrates Rubin into Google Classroom, and her students access the lessons without a traditional password.
Listen to Rolison discuss her experience with Rubin and the triple win at the state level!
Right as schools returned from winter break, the Rubin team jumped into a live training with 80 CTE teachers from across Frederick County (Virginia) Public Schools.
On Monday, January 5, Rubin Founder Danny Rubin and IT Support Specialist Noah Sandler guided dozens of Frederick County CTE teachers to connect our Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration videos with Google Classroom.
The teachers can now use our lessons for email/phone etiquette, interview/resume prep, exploration videos across 100+ careers and much more within Google Classroom and no one (teachers or students) needs to use a password to access the content.
Thank you to CTE Director George Bishop for making the day run smoothly!
Frederick County CTE teachers review Rubin lessons from inside their Google Classroom accounts.Frederick County CTE teachers participate in a face-to-face conversation activity that teaches students how to do “small talk.”
Middle and high school students in Alexandria City Public Schools (Northern Virginia) love Rubin Aspire career exploration videos.
How do we know?
In just two months, the students have watched 1,000+ Aspire career exploration video clips for jobs that include athletic trainer, surgical assistant, lab technician and many more.
What’s more, the average time per session is 43 minutes. That’s right — students in the year 2025 stuck with an online educational product for the better part of an hour.
“For our teachers and students, Aspire fills a gap,” said Sarah Black, CTE and work-based learning specialist in Alexandria. “Students want to see what jobs are out there in the world, and Aspire gives them the opportunity.”
At Rubin, we believe in the power of partnership. We are thrilled that Aspire videos, delivered in Alexandria through the Canvas LMS, allow its CTE program to achieve twin goals of high-quality instruction and career readiness.
Rubin Aspire usage statistics in Alexandria (Virginia) only two months into the 25-26 academic year.Rubin Founder Danny Rubin stands with Sarah Black and Dr. Tricia Jacobs, Alexandria CTE director, at a state gathering of CTE administrators in October 2025..
Chelsea Gasser, a business teacher at West Central Area School District in Barrett, MN, had her lesson plan all figured out.
Her students would learn to create a business plan.
There was only one issue: The students didn’t have a business for the business plan.
That’s where Emerge stepped in. Our signature employability skills curriculum features a unit called “Find Your Big Idea.” Within the unit, students walk through five key steps to developing a workable business idea.
Activity: Step 1 — Match passion with purpose
Activity: Step 2 — Understand income and expenses
Activity: Step 3 — Do a competitive analysis
Activity: Step 4 — Identify ideal customers
Activity: Step 5 — Decide on a marketing plan
The five steps take a students through a process in which they identify a hobby or skill they enjoy and then hone the hobby into a product or service that has potential in the market.
Listen to Chelsea discuss how Emerge provided the necessary “pre-work” so her students could build legitimate business plans.
There’s nothing more meaningful than meeting face to face.
That held true on two levels during the Senior Expo Experience on Friday, October 3 for Frederick County Public Schools in Winchester (Northern Virginia).
First, we led a resume workshop for 300+ seniors across the district. Rubin Founder Danny Rubin conducted a 15-minute crash course nine separate times as students in small groups shuffled in and out of the session. The workshop focused on how to use numbers to stand out on paper.
For example, it’s more powerful on a resume to include, as a store associate at Target, that you “check out 100 customers per day and 500 per week” rather than only write “store associate.”
The Senior Expo Experience also allowed our team to talk directly with district leadership, including Superintendent Dr. George Hummer, CTE Director George Bishop and School Board Chair Scott Sturdivant. The County now provides our products (ex: Emerge employability skills curriculum) to teachers and students within Google Classroom, and it’s important that school officials top down understand what goes on in the classroom.
At Rubin, we don’t “sell curriculum.” We develop partnerships with school districts so they trust that we are the premier resource for employability skills training. It helps a great deal to shake hands with local leadership so they know who we are.
Our thanks and appreciation to Frederick County Public Schools for having us at the Expo!
Rubin Founder Danny Rubin stands with Frederick County Public Schools CTE Director George Bishop at the Senior Expo Experience, held inside the gymnasium at Shenandoah University.
We are heartened to learn how transition teachers in Roanoke City Public Schools (Virginia) incorporate the discussion questions.
Jennifer McMains from Roanoke Schools explained how she relies on the small group discussion worksheet and cuts out each question like a flash card. She then assigns one flash card to each student.
Roanoke Schools teacher Jennifer McMains (upper left) holds up the Rubin Aspire discussion worksheet as co-teacher Sheilia Rhodes looks on.The different options for discussion questions as part of each Aspire career profile.Sample discussion questions for certified nursing assistant (CNA) that teachers can cut into flash cards.
We want Aspire to be accessible for all students no matter what job they may pursue after high school.
It was nothing but (brotherly) love on Tuesday, August 19 in Philadelphia.
That’s because the Rubin team attended a back-to-school CTE training day at Kensington High School in downtown Philly to train teachers on our Emerge curriculum for employability skills.
The training, which occurred in the school cafeteria, was fast paced and energetic. Teachers dove into our instruction — which integrates to Google Classroom — and popped up to ask questions and shout out activities they liked (How to notsend an email like a text message).
We also had the chance to speak with Superintendent Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Sr. and explain the Rubin resources his teachers will use in the 25-26 academic year.
We are grateful and excited to roll out Emerge across The School District of Philadelphia. Below are photos and videos from the day.
Philadelphia automotive teacher Ben Starcheski reviews a Rubin Emerge activity during a training on August 19, 2025.Rubin Founder Danny Rubin smiles with The School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Sr. Philadelphia CTE teacher with her Rubin poster!Rubin Founder Danny Rubin with several CTE teachers in Philadelphia who hold their new Rubin posters!
The Rubin team was on the move the week of August 11 at back-to-school events with CTE teams in Miami-Dade, Florida and Prince William County, Virginia.
Within each school district, we engaged with admins, showed teachers how to access Rubin Emerge and Aspire resources and, of course, passed out Rubin posters!
Here is a selection of photos from the trip.
Rubin Founder Danny Rubin smiles with Miami-Dade County Public Schools CTE Director Dr. Lupe Diaz.Miami-Dade CTE teachers discuss ways to use Rubin’s Emerge and Aspire products at the Opening of Schools event.Rubin Founder Danny Rubin poses with Prince William County CTE teachers after his workshop on using Rubin products in Canvas.
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.
