Centile values, also known as percentile scores or norm-based fitness standards, are a statistical measure that indicates the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group fall.

It's important to note that centiles are not measures of 'good' or 'bad' score. They are simply statistical representations of where a student’s score falls within the distribution of students of the same age and sex.

References / Further reading

1. Ortega, F. B., Artero, E. G., Ruiz, J. R., Espana-Romero, V., Jimenez-Pavon, D., Vicente-Rodriguez, G., Moreno, L. A., Manios, Y., Beghin, L., Ottevaere, C., Ciarapica, D., Sarri, K., Dietrich, S., Blair, S. N., Kersting, M., Molnar, D., Gonzalez-Gross, M., Gutierrez, A., Sjostrom, M. & Castillo, M. J. (2011). Physical fitness levels among European adolescents: the HELENA study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(1), 20–29. DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2009.062679
2. Ortega, F. B., Leskošek, B., Blagus, R., Gil-Cosano, J. J., Mäestu, J., Tomkinson, G. R., Ruiz, J. R., Mäestu, E., Starc, G., Milanovic, I., Tammelin, T. H., Sorić, M., Scheuer, C., Carraro, A., Kaj, M., Csányi, T., Sardinha, L. B., Lenoir, M., Emeljanovas, A., … Jurak, G. (2023). European fitness landscape for children and adolescents: updated reference values, fitness maps and country rankings based on nearly 8 million test results from 34 countries gathered by the FitBack network. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(5), 299–310. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106176

3. Zhu, W., Mahar, M. T., Welk, G. J., Going, S. B., & Cureton, K. J. (2011). Approaches for development of criterion-referenced standards in health-related youth fitness tests. American journal of preventive medicine, 41(4 Suppl 2), S68–S76. DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.07.001