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Tag: career exploration
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VA Dept. of Rehabilitation Services Relies on Rubin for Virtual Workshops
The Virginia Department of Rehabilitation Services (DARS) has a goal to provide virtual career workshops to students with learning disabilities across the Commonwealth.
To fulfill the mission, DARS needs high-quality instruction to make every online session engaging and impactful.
Enter Rubin’s Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration video platform.
We are proud to be an integral part of a new initiative called Virtual PERT 2.0. PERT stands for Postsecondary Education Rehabilitation Transition. The program allows the DARS team, like PERT Career Lab Instructor Allison Kennedy, to visit high school classrooms. Each time, she relies on Emerge for lessons on networking, social skills, basic financial math, LinkedIn and even how to use proper tone of voice. Kennedy also shares Aspire videos that showcase careers in STEM, manufacturing, the trades and more.
“It’s really nice to have a big content library to pick through and connect to our objectives,” said Kennedy.
The DARS team piloted Virtual PERT 2.0 in the city of Gloucester in fall 2025. The ultimate plan is to reach students in all corners of the state and particularly in economically-challenged communities like Southwest Virginia and the Northern Neck.
Wherever Kennedy and her team go next, Rubin will be right there too.
Listen to more of our conversation with Allison Kennedy.
Every student deserves career skills.
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Alexandria (VA) CTE Students Watch 1,000+ Aspire Videos, Spend 43 Minutes Per Session
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.. Career exploration all day long.
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VA Transition Teachers Rely on Aspire Discussion Questions
When we designed our Aspire career exploration video series, we were careful to provide discussion questions for the video clips three different ways:
- Whole group discussion
- Small group discussion
- Independent worksheet
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.
Thank you, Jennifer, for the terrific feedback!
Empowering students to lead the conversation.
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December 16, 2025: Industrial Mechanic
Special guest: Jeremy Garrett, Millwright Council representative for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters
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December 3, 2025: Biomedical Engineer
Special guest: Dr. Seth Weinberg, Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering, at The Ohio State University.
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November 18, 2025: Transportation Planner
Special guest: Dan Sonenklar, statewide transit planning manager for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
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Wednesday, November 5: Speech-Language Pathologist
Special guest: Lauren Bernhard, a speech-language pathologist and early intervention specialist for Fairfax County, Virginia.
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Rubin Partners with Largest Online Website for Homeschool Community
Rubin has partnered with Rainbow Resource Center, the nation’s largest provider of educational materials to homeschool families.
Homeschool families can now purchase Rubin’s Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration platform on the Rainbow Resource website. The product pages feature descriptions, screenshots, demonstration videos and reviews written by Rainbow Resource “consultants,” a team of educators who help homeschool families identify learning materials.
The Rubin team met representatives from Rainbow Resource Center at the 2025 convention of the Homeschool Educators Association of Virginia. There is a known “gap” for career development resources in the homeschool community, and Rubin hopes to fill that need with high-quality instruction for skills like email/phone etiquette, resume writing, job interview prep and career exploration videos.
There are an estimated three million homeschool students in America as of the 25-26 academic year.
“We set a goal in 2025 to expand to new audiences outside of the traditional public school setting,” said Rubin Founder Danny Rubin. “Until now, homeschool families did not have a comprehensive resource for career development, and we are excited to share our instruction with families across the country.”
Rainbow Resource Center will feature Rubin on its homepage from August 12-18 to introduce Emerge and Aspire to the homeschool community.
“The Walmart of homeschool products”
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At State Conference, Rubin Team Introduces Products to the Homeschool Community
For Rubin, this year is all about exploring new markets for our employability and career exploration products. June 2025 offered an ideal opportunity to say “Hello!” to the homeschool community.
From June 5-7, members of the Rubin team attended the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) annual convention in the state capital of Richmond. At the HEAV convention, we spoke with dozens of home school parents and received positive feedback on our instructional materials. Over and again, homeschool parents told us “There are no current providers of career development resources in the homeschool community. But these skills are so needed.”
We also engaged with national homeschool educational suppliers as we seek valuable partners who can share our products with families across the country.
With any new audience segment, we need to find our place in unfamiliar territory. The first step is to get in the room, listen to the customers and find the right partners.
Then the process will take shape organically.
We look forward to serving the homeschool community and helping these students gain critical skills for college and career opportunities!
Rubin Director of Instruction Alexis Kruemcke explains our Aspire career exploration video library to a homeschool parent in the exhibit hall of the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) annual convention in Richmond. Rubin attended the HEAV convention from June 5-7, 2025 to make a formal introduction to the homeschool community and begin to assist families with employability skills training. New audience, new impact.
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Rubin Partners with Miami-Dade, Nation’s 3rd Largest School District
Rubin Partners with Miami Dade, Nation’s 3rd Largest School District
In the photo: Rubin founder Danny Rubin (left) stands with Miami-Dade students and their teacher Shnae Wallace. The students use Rubin’s Emerge employability skills curriculum to help with email etiquette, job interview prep and more.
Rubin, the leader in online curriculum for employability skills, has partnered with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to provide high school students with lessons that focus on college and career readiness.
Miami-Dade, one of the largest school divisions in the country, has a robust internship program that sends thousands of high school students into the South Florida business community each spring.
In the 23-24 academic year, Rubin products proved themselves as supplemental curriculum for the internship program. During the classroom portion of the internship program, 3,000 Miami-Dade students spent more than 250,000 minutes in Rubin’s Emerge employability skills curriculum on topics like resume writing, email etiquette and job interview prep.
In the 25-26 academic year, Rubin has expanded further into Miami-Dade through career-based pathways like health science, business and agriculture. Rubin will also now provide its Aspire career exploration video platform and Propel email etiquette teaching tool.
All Rubin products integrate to Schoology, Miami-Dade’s learning management system, via LTI 1.3. That means students and teachers access Rubin content in Schoology seamlessly and without a traditional sign-in process.
“We are honored to work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, one of the nation’s leading school districts,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “Already we have made an impact on several thousand students, and we’re excited at the chance to make a deeper impression in the school years to come.”
We reach South Florida.