US · guidance
BOP Program Statement 5312.01 § 7
TEST INTEGRITY, SCORE REPORTING, AND PROGRAM ACCOUNTABILITY
The SOE will establish a system to ensure all relevant standardized education test scores are
entered in the applicable Bureau inmate management system within two weeks of receipt of final
5312.01 6/22/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 7
test scores and they are maintained in accordance with Program Statement Education, Training,
and Leisure Time Program Standards.
Official and unofficial copies of the HSE credential and transcript will be presented to the inmate
along with instructions on how to acquire ownership of their HSE online account upon release
from the Bureau. These instructions can be located on the ESB page of the Bureau’s intranet site.
Copies of the inmate’s HSE credential and transcript will be sent to the inmate’s Unit Management
team to be placed in the Inmate Central File.
An accountability system is vital to the valid administration, interpretation, and use of education
tests. The SOE will have a test accountability and inventory system established to ensure:
Test content and materials are not exposed to unauthorized staff or to non-tested inmates.
All printed certification tests and related materials are stored in a secure, fireproof safe to
prevent any test irregularities and compromises. Only HSE and ESL certification test
materials can be stored in this safe, to which only the Chief Examiner and authorized
Examiners have access. The ESB Test Administrator(s) and REAs are authorized to access
and open the safe designated for storing all official testing materials for staff assists and
site visits.
All standardized, norm-referenced testing tools, including but not limited to any test
books, examiner’s manual, technical manual, online scoring and reporting program, test
record, response booklet, and audio recording devices, must be stored in a secure,
fireproof storage container or safe. This material will not be in the same safe that holds the
HSE and ESL certification test materials.
The Chief Examiner or designee will conduct and maintain documentation of a monthly
inventory of all ESL certification tests, compact discs (CDs), and testing materials,
including any test administration manual.
The examinee/examiner ratio and test security measures comply with the standards set by
the test publishers to ensure reliability and validity of test results. At a minimum, two
Examiners must always be present during HSE and ESL certification testing sessions.
All new SOEs preparing to become a Chief Examiner will ordinarily be trained by
regional, and/or ESB staff (i.e., SOEs, ASOEs, REAs, and/or ESB staff). When
extenuating circumstances exist preventing the SOE from attending the training, the SOE
will contact the REA and ESB for authorization to be trained by a local, approved
Examiner.
The Examiner maintains historical testing records to include testing schedules and inmates
scheduled for HSE and ESL testing sessions, and the number of HSE and ESL tests
administered and passed for a minimum of three years. This allows for the retrieval of
testing data that may not be available in the applicable Bureau education data system and
official HSE and ESL reports from the ESB page of the Bureau’s intranet site.
All inmates must bring their government-issued identification card the day of testing for
5312.01 6/22/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 8
inmate identity verification prior to taking the HSE or ESL certification test.
Upon completing the HSE and ESL certification test, inmates will be given a program
completion assignment in the applicable Bureau inmate management system and awarded
an incentive in accordance with Program Statement First Step Act Assessments,
Programming and Incentives.
All rules and procedures about test security and procedures are specified in this program
statement; those posted on the ESB page of the Bureau’s intranet site and outlined by the
HSE test publisher must be followed to prevent any test irregularities and compromises.
Suspicion and/or occurrence of HSE or ESL test irregularities and compromises are
reported immediately/within one hour to the respective REA and Central Office Education
Administrator.
When test irregularities and/or compromises occur, all appropriate test publisher(s) forms
must be completed, and incident reports must be written in accordance with the Program
Statement Inmate Discipline Program. Additional guidance and test publisher forms
related to test irregularities and compromises are located on the ESB Page of the Bureau’s
intranet site.
5312.01 6/22/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 9
REFERENCES
Program Statements
Education, Training, and Leisure Time Program Standards
English as a Second Language (ESL) Program
First Step Act Assessment, Programming and Incentives
Inmate Discipline Program
Literacy Program
Management of Inmates with Disabilities
ACA Standards
Performance-Based Standards and Expected Practices for Adult Correctional Institutions (5th
Edition): 5-ACI-3D-04, 5-ACI-3D-05, 5-ACI-5E-02, 5-ACI-5E-03, 5-ACI-7B-01, 5-ACI-7B-
02, 5-ACI-7B-03, 5-ACI-7B-04, 5-ACI-7B-05, 5-ACI-7B-06, 5-ACI-7B-07, 5-ACI-7B-08, 5-
ACI-7B-09, 5-ACI-7B-10, 5-ACI-7B-11, 5-ACI-7B-12, 5-ACI-7B-13, 5-ACI-7B-14, and 5-
ACI-7B-15
Performance-Based Standards and Expected Practices for Adult Local Detention Facilities (5th
Edition): 5-ALDF-5A-02, 5-ALDF-5A-09, 5-ALDF-6B-02, 5-ALDF-6B-03, 5-ALDF-6B-05
Standards for the Administration of Correctional Agencies, 2nd Edition: 2-CO-3C-01, 2-CO-5B-
01, 2-CO-5C-01, 2-CO-5F-01
Records Retention Requirements
Requirements and retention guidance for records and information applicable to this program are
available in the Records and Information Disposition Schedule (RIDS) on the Bureau’s intranet
site.
5312.01 6/22/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 10
History
PS 5312.01 dated 2026-06-22
Provenance
- Source
- bop.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-20
- Edition
- bop-ps-2026-09-20
- Content hash
8975d8c67b38f42c51b8110767e9f1d46290b89b6a301e1f4a2059ee1c94316e
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