Virginia SOL CE.3.c
The Standard
describing the roles and powers of the executive branch and regulatory boards as they affect states
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science · The student will apply history and social science skills to analyze how constitutional government functions at the state level by
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how the governor and other executive officials carry out state laws. They describe how state agencies and regulatory boards set rules, issue licenses, enforce standards, and affect residents.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can match a state action to the governor, an executive agency, or a regulatory board. They can explain the legal power used and its effect on residents or businesses.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often confuse a governor's powers with a president's powers. They may think executive officials pass laws or that regulatory boards can act without authority granted by state law.
How to Assess It
- Give students this exit prompt: “A state nursing board suspends a nurse’s license for unsafe conduct. Explain the board’s role and source of authority.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups role cards and power cards for the governor, attorney general, state agencies, and licensing boards, then have them build correct matches.
Ask students to write whether a governor should control every decision made by state regulatory boards, using one reason and one example.
Play a scenario sort where teams place actions under governor, legislature, court, executive agency, or regulatory board and defend each choice.
Have students examine a Virginia professional license page and identify the board, its rules, and how its decisions affect workers and consumers.
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Related Standards
- CE.3.e
explaining the principle of separation of powers and the operation of checks and balances at the state level.
- CE.2.c
explaining the particular role and powers of the executive branch as explained in Article II of the Constitution of the United States;
- CE.2.a
describing the structure and powers of the government (the three branches of government);
- CE.3.a
describing the structure and powers of the state government (the three branches of government);
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