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Tag: employability skills
Readying for 25-26: Rubin Products Get Refresh in Summer
When the students break for summer vacation, the Rubin team rolls up our sleeves.
Now is the ideal time to make modifications and upgrades to our products for employability skills training.
Here are the highlights so far:
- In Rubin Emerge (employability activities), we have new financial literacy activities like how to write a check and understand credit card interest,
- Also in Emerge, now teachers can apply a direct grade rather than use our rubric. Teachers told us the rubric can be too time consuming.
- Significant improvements to our Propel email etiquette tool, including:
- Scoring system that gives every student email a score out of 100
- Ability to create a dynamic writing experience based on the nature of your message (ex: email your teacher about homework)
- Deeper data like how your email writing scores compare with classmates
We are excited to roll out these changes and many more ahead of the 25-26 academic year. Book a meeting with our team during the summer, and we will show you around.
Rubin Propel now gives a score based on the quality of the student’s professional skills. As students correct mistakes, the score improves. What’s your email etiquette score?
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.
The School District of Philadelphia to Bring Rubin to All High Schools in 25-26 Academic Year
Starting in fall 2025, The School District of Philadelphia will incorporate Rubin Emerge into career and technical education (CTE) courses across all 31 high schools in the city.
Emerge, the company’s signature curriculum for employability skills, is a broad library of videos, activities and assessments for topics like email/phone etiquette, conversation skills and interview prep.Rubin and The School District of Philadelphia, the largest school system in Pennsylvania, piloted Emerge in the 24-25 academic year within selected classrooms. After positive feedback from the initial group of teachers, the CTE department elected to give Emerge to all CTE teachers. The School District of Philadelphia uses Google Classroom as its learning management system (LMS).
Rubin delivers Emerge, as well as our Aspire career exploration video library, to Google Classroom through a single sign-on connection. In that way, teachers and students don’t use traditional passwords to access the Emerge platform.
The CTE program in Philadelphia provides hands-on instruction in multiple pathways, including health science, agriculture, automotive and digital technology. Emerge topics (ex: How to leave a voicemail) will be incorporated into the various career courses.
“We are privileged to work with The School District of Philadelphia, one of the nation’s largest school systems,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “We worked hard to build a relationship with city leadership and prove the merits of our instructional content. Now we have an opportunity to help thousands of students across Philadelphia gain the skills and confidence to pursue new opportunities.”
Rubin Founder Danny Rubin stands with Michella Lora, director of CTE operations for The School District of Philadelphia. The Rubin company will deliver its Emerge employability skills curriculum to all 31 high schools in the 25-26 academic year. Brotherly Love + Rubin = Magic
Rubin Adds 8 New School Partners, Enhances Propel with Scoring System
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.
300+ BPA Advisors Request End-of-Year Activities from Rubin
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
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.
At Prince William Schools Workshop, Rubin is Glue between CTE, EL
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
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
Fairfax County’s own Rakshana Damodaran is America’s Next Great Intern. The 9th 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,
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.