This paper clarifies how and why grades for behavior have been reintroduced to school report cards in many German states over the last decade. Grades for behavior are those marks in school report cards which are based on the attitude or behavior of the pupils/students in addition to their academic achievement.Pupils/students from the second to the tenth grades usually receive these grades for behavior.
Until the 1970s in the former West Germany (BRD), and until 1990 in the former East Germany (BRD), grades for behavior as well as academic achievement were mentioned in school report cards. Grades for behavior came to be known as “header grades”(Kopfnoten) because they were usually recorded on the top of the school report cards (Schulzeugnisse). In those days, items such as “politeness”, “effort”, “attention” and “meticulousness” were marked with a four-grade system:excellent/good/appropriate/not appropriate.Grades for behavior, however, were abandoned in both East and West Germany for two reasons:First, they were seen as having the potential to groundlessly stigmatize pupils/students; second, the objectivity, reliability and validity of the measurement of behavior were fallible.

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