Following last week’s $143-million investment to hire 476 complexity teams, targeted to the schools that need them most, Alberta’s government has released the final list of schools that will receive a complexity team.

Complexity teams will support students facing a range of academic, behavioural, social and emotional challenges. This includes helping students learn English, supporting students with complex learning needs, managing disruptive behaviours and providing additional enrichment for coded students. Working directly in classrooms, these teams will support teachers and strengthen learning environments.

By being embedded in schools, complexity teams will help identify student needs early, provide targeted supports and bring in additional specialists when required. This approach gives schools the flexibility needed to respond directly and effectively to the needs of their students and classrooms.

Early intervention and foundational stability are key benefits of placing complexity teams in K–6 schools. Research shows that addressing student needs in the early years is more effective and less costly than attempting to address behavioural or academic gaps later, in secondary school. Embedding these teams in elementary schools helps prevent small challenges from becoming long-term learning barriers.

This investment represents the first of several steps the Alberta government is taking to continue addressing classroom complexity across the province.

Quick facts

  • Data released on Open Alberta is from 89,000 public, separate and francophone classes across the province, including information on class size, class composition and occurrence of complexity factors.  
  • Class size and complexity data confirms:
    • Alberta’s average class size is 25.
  • Average class size by grade division:
    • Kindergarten to Grade 3 - 22 students
    • Grades 4 to 6 – 25 students
    • Grades 7 to 9 – 26 students
    • Grades 10 to12 – 26 students
  • Average class size by region:
    • Rural – average of 23 students
    • Urban and metro – average of 26 students
  • Five per cent of classrooms have been identified as high priority.
  • Thirty-six per cent have been identified as medium priority.

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