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!
On Monday, August 11, the Rubin team traveled to Pittsburgh for the national conference of the Correctional Educators Association (CEA).
The CEA brings together educators in correctional institutions for networking and learning. Our team walked the exhibit floor, engaged with companies that support education for justice-involved individuals and sat in on learning sessions.
We hope to find meaningful ways to support inmates with career instruction. Our trip to Pittsburgh was a solid start!
Rubin Founder Danny Rubin in Pittsburgh at the national conference for the Correctional Education Association (CEA).Rubin Founder Danny Rubin smiles with Karla Galleguillos, national program specialist for CASAS. The organization provides instructional resources for professionals who support adult education.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
