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  • Johnston County (NC) Students Pilot Updated Version of Propel

    Johnston County (NC) Students Pilot Updated Version of Propel

    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.

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    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.

  • Rubin Featured in “Mini Doc” by Regional Entrepreneurship Engine

    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

    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

    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.

  • Rubin Leads “PD” Workshops for Loudoun County

    Rubin Leads “PD” Workshops for Loudoun County

    On Monday, April 7, our founder Danny Rubin lead a series of professional development workshops for CTE teachers at Loudoun Valley High School in Loudoun County, Virginia. Loudoun is a fast-growing county just west of the nation’s capital.

    Danny showed the teachers how to locate and use Rubin Emerge employability content in Schoology via LTI 1.3.

    We also passed out our popular Rubin motivational posters for the teachers’ classrooms.

    Thanks for having us, Loudoun. And thanks for being a terrific partner!

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    Loudoun County teacher Ellen Milligan with a Rubin poster.
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    Rubin founder Danny Rubin leads a workshop on the Rubin Emerge curriculum with Loudoun County teachers on Monday, April 7, 2025.

    Training trainers in one of VA’s largest school districts.

  • Rubin Awards 1,200+ Digital Badges in Sept/Oct 2024

    Rubin Awards 1,200+ Digital Badges in Sept/Oct 2024

    With the 2024-2025 academic year underway, students are busy in Rubin Emerge learning in-demand employability skills.

    At the end of each unit (ex: Email Etiquette — Beginner), students take a post-test. Once students pass the post-test, they earn an Emerge digital badge. So far, students have garnered 1,200+ digital badges for email writing, job outreach strategies, networking, resumes and more.

    Here’s a snapshot:

    • Email Etiquette — Beginner: 383 badges
    • Email Etiquette — Advanced: 172 badges
    • Job Outreach: 106 badges
    • Networking: 86 badges
    • Resume Writing: 78 badges
    • Cover Letter Writing: 52 badges

    Each badge features a QR code that brings the person to this page on the Rubin site. The pages explains the skills students gained to earn the digital badge.

    The badges are ideal for a resume, portfolio, LinkedIn profile and anywhere else students can showcase skills learned.

    Badges abound from Emerge.

  • Teacher Spotlight: For Kyle Bashore, Rubin “Sets the Standard”

    Teacher Spotlight: For Kyle Bashore, Rubin “Sets the Standard”

     

    In Kyle Bashore’s classroom, Rubin isn’t just a curriculum tool.

    Since 2021, Rubin is the standard of excellence his students must strive to meet.

    Bashore is a CTE teacher at Cathedral City High School near Palm Springs, California. He teaches inside the HEAL Academy (Health and Environmental Health Academy of Learning), and he’s also the co-advisor of the school’s HOSA chapter.

    Bashore draws on our Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration video library to ensure his students write and speak like professionals.

    In particular, Bashore has students complete the Emerge Project Management unit to learn how to communicate in a clear, professional manner with teammates.

    “I notice a huge change in formality and consideration of others after the Project Management unit,” said Bashore.

    Bashore integrates Emerge and Aspire through a seamless connection with his Google Classroom. He carefully selects different topics for the health sciences classes he teaches.

    For example:

    General resource throughout his classes: Emerge unit called Email Etiquette-Beginner where students learn to write a proper email.

    For the TAs (teaching assistants): The TAs practice speaking skills through the Emerge unit called Phone Etiquette.

    Emergency Medicine and his HOSA chapter: Emerge units called Project Management and Public Speaking.

    Medical Terminology: Emerge unit called Ethics Discussions for tricky workplace situations.

    Public Health: Emerge unit called Website Content, which guides students to write a business website.

    Bashore also has students search the Aspire career exploration video library to learn about roles in health care (ex: surgical assistant) and also discover cool jobs in fields like STEM, marketing, sports, law and the trades.

    Above all, Bashore relies on Rubin to help him prepare students for the world after high school.

    “At the start of the year, students begrudgingly work on Rubin assignments as if to say, ‘Do I REALLY need this?’” said Bashore. “By the end of the year, I see significant changes in their professionalism. Without me even asking, they hold themselves to a new standard.”

    Thank you, Kyle, for being a wonderful partner in the classroom.

    Check out Rubin Emerge and Aspire for yourself! Free trial available here.

    CA teacher embraces Rubin Emerge and Aspire

  • In First Two Months, Rubin Propel Gives Email Etiquette Advice 30,000 Times

    In First Two Months, Rubin Propel Gives Email Etiquette Advice 30,000 Times

    In January 2024, we launched our Propel email etiquette tool for Gmail and Outlook.

    Immediately, the tool went to work helping students nationwide become more professional with their messages to teachers and employers.

    See how Propel works — 1 minute video!

    Quick stats:

     

    Number of school districts participating: 37

    Number of students who have Propel as an email extension: 936

    Number of emails written with the help of Propel: 5,449

    Number of Propel rules shared with the students: 30,019

    Let’s break down the data

     

    Propel guides a student to structure an email (ex: include a greeting and closing) and then analyzes the message to offer further suggestions for grammar and soft skills.

    Propel offers advice, but students must make the changes. No AI, no ChatGPT. Pure learning.

    Among the 30,019 times Propel offered advice:

    • Include a greeting (ex: Good morning): 3,357 times
    • Add a period at the end of the sentence: 2,415
    • Address the person with a proper title (ex: Ms. Smith): 2,351
    • Don’t write the email as one “blocky” paragraph: 544
    • Be sure to capitalize the first word of a sentence: 460
    • Remember to sign your name at the end: 397
    • Don’t use a lowercase “i” to describe yourself: 250

    What’s more, 99% of students who use Propel write a subject line as a cogent summary of the message. The #1 complaint our team hears from educators about student emails is that students write the entire email in the subject line.

    Propel has solved the subject line problem.

    “The Propel tool was easy to use and helped my students so much,” said Shelley Roberts, a teacher in Johnston County, North Carolina. “It is disappointing that many students have no idea what the correct format of a letter/email should be. Propel reintroduced terms like body and greeting. The students love the easy, ‘fill in the blank’ process.”

    The bigger picture

     

    Propel is an optional extension in a student’s email, which means the initial batch of pilot students choose to use Propel. They want the guidance.

    “When a student fixes a small mistake like not capitalizing the first word of a sentence, instantly the message becomes more professional,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “The student will then be taken more seriously in the business community, and opportunities can happen more quickly.”

    Rubin added: “In that way, Propel is a tool for equity and eliminating bias in the marketplace.”

    Click here to request a trial!

     

    Launch and scale.

  • Rubin Propel Transforms Email Writing for Johnston County MS and HS Students

    Rubin Propel Transforms Email Writing for Johnston County MS and HS Students

    Subject line: [blank]

    Email message: turned in

    That is an email composed by a 9th grader in Johnston County, North Carolina during the spring 2024 semester.

    The trend to write emails like text messages is not unique to Johnston County, of course. In our digital era, students nationwide often don’t understand how to draft a professionally-written email.

    That’s why Johnston County piloted Rubin’s new Propel email etiquette tool in the spring semester for middle and high school students.

    Propel is a teaching tool for Gmail and Outlook that guides a student to compose a high-quality email. Propel does not use AI, and the tool requires students to do all the writing and critical thinking.

    See a 1-minute demonstration of Propel here.

    Let’s return to the email written by the 9th grader:

    Subject line: [blank]

    Email message: turned in

    With the help of Propel, here’s what the email became:

    Subject line: Completed work

    Email message:

    Good afternoon, Mrs. Roberts.

    I hope you are doing well.

    I wanted to let you know that I have completed my interview and turned it in.

    Thank you,

    – Alyssa

    Now observe the growth among 6th graders too.

    Here’s an example of a 6th grade email beforePropel:

    Subject line: why i have 72 grade

    Email message: [blank]

    And here’s an email in which the student used Propel:

    Subject line: What I think the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland means

    Email message:

    Mrs. Woll,

    Good morning. This is Evy from second block.

    This is my answer for the journal prompt.

    I think the rabbit hole represents part of Alice’s personality, such as the unfocused part, or distracted or curious.

    Thank you for your time and effort for reading my answer for the journal prompt.

    – Evy

    Johnston County 9th grade teacher Shelley Roberts:

    “The Propel tool was easy to use and helped my students so much! It is disappointing that many of them have no idea what the correct format of a letter/email should be. This tool reintroduced terms like body and greeting. The students loved how easy the ‘fill in the blank’ process was.”

    Go here to try Propel for your school district!

    Night and day difference.

  • Rubin Announces “Propel Partnership” with Nat’l Technical Honor Society

    Rubin Announces “Propel Partnership” with Nat’l Technical Honor Society

    Rubin, a leader in online resources for business communication skills, has partnered with the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), a non-profit student organization that celebrates excellence in career & technical education (CTE).

    The partnership will provide NTHS chapters access to Propel, Rubin’s revolutionary email tool. Propel is an innovative product for Gmail/Outlook that teaches students how to write polished, professional emails. Propel promises no more student emails that look like casual text messages.

    “We are excited to partner with Rubin to offer our members access to their Propel email tool,” said NTHS Executive Director, Peyton Holland. “This partnership aligns strongly with our NTHS Core Four Objectives, particularly around career development and leadership development. This tool will help NTHS members sharpen and hone their communication skills as they prepare to transition into the workforce.”

    “The partnership with NTHS allows our team to impact student writing on a national level,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “So many college and career opportunities begin with an introductory email. If we can help NTHS students write great emails, then all kinds of doors will open.”

    With over one million members served in both secondary and postsecondary chapters across the country, NTHS seeks to empower students through career development, leadership, and service opportunities so they can develop the skills needed to build their careers and our global workforce.

    Rubin is the leader in online instruction for employability skills. Founded in 2017, Rubin teaches students how to write, speak and lead with confidence through a variety of online teaching tools. From live webinars with top professionals to hands-on curricula and an etiquette tool for Gmail/Outlook, teachers and students nationwide rely on Rubin to prepare for the world of work.

    The brightest deserve the best.