Student population

Starting with 2013/2014, the definition of an Alberta student is an individual who is registered as of September 30 of the school year in a school located in Alberta, where “school” means a structured learning environment through which an education program is offered to a student by:

  • a board (includes public, separate, Francophone, Lloydminster); an operator of a private school
  • an early childhood services (ECS) program private operator
  • the operator of a charter school
  • a parent giving a home education program
  • the Minister of Education
  • other Alberta-located educational institutions providing ECS to Grade 12 curriculum instruction, specifically Federal (First Nations schools and those operated by Corrections Canada) and provincial authorities (such as the four former Alberta Vocational Colleges)

Table 1. Alberta student population by grade

Note: *Enrolment as of October 2022 student count.
Grade 2018/2019 2019/2020 2020/2021 2021/2022 2022/2023*
ECS 72,374 73,527 59,943 67,428 67,940
Grade 1 56,229 56,289 57,103 54,204 58,143
Grade 2 55,422 56,236 55,674 56,706 55,356
Grade 3 55,495 55,826 56,395 55,628 58,190
Grade 4 56,804 56,045 55,890 56,489 56,894
Grade 5 56,189 57,439 56,171 56,116 57,922
Grade 6 55,247 56,715 57,564 56,443 57,355
Grade 7 52,171 55,758 56,764 57,625 57,723
Grade 8 50,769 52,794 55,904 56,907 58,788
Grade 9 49,320 50,762 52,597 55,772 57,827
Grade 10 51,374 52,037 52,038 54,214 58,095
Grade 11 49,934 51,388 51,324 52,186 54,789
Grade 12 69,047 68,114 67,427 66,052 67,258
All grades 730,375 742,930 734,794 745,770 766,280

Table 2. Alberta student population by authority system

School authority system 2018/2019 2019/2020 2020/2021 2021/2022 2022/2023*
Public 487,710 494,053 483,578 492,362 508,478
Separate 173,272 176,128 174,689 173,436 177,633
Francophone 8,617 8,898 8,573 8,765 9,089
Charter 9,576 9,918 10,012 10,575 11,263
ECS Private Operator 6,942 7,132 5,750 7,061 7,876
Private School 31,632 33,382 38,078 39,292 40,676
Provincial 1,701 1,834 1,622 1,625 1,059
Federal – First Nations 10,293 10,903 11,926 12,017 9,669
Federal 632 682 566 637 537
All schools and authorities 730,375 742,930 734,794 745,770 766,280
*Enrolment as of October 2022 student count.
**Student population supervised by a school authority is also included in school authority numbers.
Home education population 2018/2019 2019/2020 2020/2021 2021/2022 2022/2023*
Shared Responsibility Program** 1,175 1,207 1,162 1,400 1,765
Home Education** 12,516 13,523 24,198 21,296 19,366

Special education needs population

The information in the tables reflects children and students identified with special education needs as reported to Alberta Education by public, separate, Francophone, charter and private school authorities and ECS private operators in their September 30 student registration. Alberta Education identifies individuals attending Early Childhood Services programs as children and individuals attending grades 1 to 12 as students.

Alberta special education statistics by code

Table 3. Alberta special education statistics by code

Code ECS to Grade 12 2017/2018 2018/2019 2019/2020 2020/2021 2021/2022
10 ECS Developmentally Immature 332 312 273 264 148
30 ECS Mildly or Moderately Disabled 9,831 10,026 9,207 5,124 4,891
51 Mild Cognitive Disability 5,313 5,067 4,980 4,694 4,661
52 Moderate Cognitive Disability 502 496 517 512 566
53 Emotional/Behavioural Disability 5,717 5,767 5,887 5,381 5,320
54 Learning Disability 20,439 20,439 20,941 20,610 20,979
55 Hearing Disability 536 569 644 634 648
56 Visual Disability 167 168 168 156 165
57 Communications Disability 7,474 7,520 8,227 8,388 8,555
58 Physical/Medical Disability 9,007 10,035 11,274 11,858 13,334
59 Multiple Disability 4,068 4,616 5,160 5,602 6,347
  Mild/Moderate total 63,386 65,015 67,278 63,223 65,614
80 Gifted and Talented 6,752 6,638 6,645 6,233 6,204
  Gifted total 6,752 6,638 6,645 6,233 6,204
41 Severe Cognitive Disability 186 173 163 147 149
42 Severe Emotional/Behavioural Disability 9,897 10,202 10,470 9,655 9,555
43 Severe Multiple Disability 1,635 1,723 1,756 1,629 1,660
44 Severe Physical or Medical Disability 13,390 14,566 15,721 16,375 18,053
45 Deafness 400 423 444 441 432
46 Blindness 205 194 189 198 180
47 ECS Severe Delay Involving Language 9,828 10,189 10,405 5,936 6,253
48 ECS Moderate Language Delay - - - - 1,866
  Severe total 35,541 37,470 39,148 34,381 38,148
99 More than one special education code 841 1,030 1,203 1,248 1,333
  More than one special education code total 841 1,030 1,203 1,248 1,333
  Overall total 106,520 110,153 114,274 105,085 111,299

Table 4. Alberta special education statistics by grade

Grade 2017/2018 2018/2019 2019/2020 2020/2021 2021/2022
Mild/
Moderate		 Gifted Severe More than one special ed code Mild/
Moderate		 Gifted Severe More than one special ed code Mild/
Moderate		 Gifted Severe More than one special ed code Mild/
Moderate		 Gifted Severe More than one special ed code Mild/
Moderate		 Gifted Severe More than one Special ed code
ECS 10,163 414 13,551 20 10,338 370 14,241 23 9,480 386 14,686 17 5,388 258 10,139 13 5,039 314 13,062 9
Grade 1 3,003 247 1,755 15 3,069 226 1,914 29 3,485 231 1,929 28 3,224 200 1,987 20 3,125 211 1,938 23
Grade 2 3,252 285 1,833 27 3,278 292 1,853 49 3,397 263 1,983 43 3,494 250 1860 39 3,600 268 2,115 42
Grade 3 3,820 405 1,888 57 3,867 401 1,980 75 3,836 358 1,962 62 3,755 304 1,981 75 4,105 333 2,010 67
Grade 4 4,363 446 1,824 64 4,440 478 2,074 85 4,409 427 2,085 90 4,386 363 1,898 81 4,550 376 2,005 109
Grade 5 4,491 601 1835 76 4,901 593 1,930 105 5,012 596 2,136 104 4,855 509 2,056 119 5,023 521 1,988 106
Grade 6 4,517 800 1,701 77 4,897 811 1,947 87 5,378 781 2,021 132 5,289 778 2,133 124 5,492 718 2,110 137
Grade 7 4,573 740 1,716 81 4,718 798 1,739 116 5,210 820 1,949 118 5,485 790 1,941 137 5,725 786 2,095 124
Grade 8 4,553 748 1,709 69 4,810 735 1,745 95 4,972 798 1,814 126 5,362 805 1,928 136 5,850 784 1,994 151
Grade 9 4,728 766 1,725 80 4,810 732 1,815 80 4,983 709 1,780 118 5,163 788 1,850 131 5,700 777 2,047 148
Grade 10 4,629 453 1,821 89 4,835 434 1,855 87 5,055 424 1,983 102 5,109 360 1,888 123 5,455 401 2,012 134
Grade 11 4,708 412 1,739 78 4,611 387 1,798 97 5,148 428 1,926 115 5,126 391 1,906 111 5,305 336 1,952 138
Grade 12 6,586 435 2444 108 6,441 381 2,579 102 6,913 424 2,894 148 6,587 437 2,814 139 6,645 379 2,820 145
All grades 63,386 6,752 35,541 841 65,015 6,638 37,470 1,030 67,278 6,645 39,148 1,203 63,223 6,233 34,381 1,248 65,614 6,204 38,148 1,333

Table 5. Funded headcount enrolment

*School authorities were funded for projected enrolments of over 730,000 in 2020/21. Funding for school authorities has not been reduced for lower enrolments. School authorities received the same or more operational funding in both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years effectively funding more than 730,000 students regardless of actual enrolment.
School authority system 2020/21 Headcount (projection) 2020/21 Headcount (actual) 2021/22 Headcount (projection) 2021/22 Headcount (actual) 2022/23 Headcount (projection) 2022/23 Headcount (actual)
Public, Separate, Francophone and Charter 683,764 651,818 674,044 662,310 673,874 685,016
Private School 24,284 23,066 25,423 25,120 27,202 26,989
ECS Private Operator 7,307 5,959 7,227 7,037 7,877 7,789
Funded Headcount* 715,355 680,843 706,694 694,467 708,953 719,794
Funded Home Education and Shared Responsibility* 14,675 25,074 19,960 22,401 22,401 20,729
  730,030 705,917 726,654 716,868 731,354 740,523

School and authority student population data

In support of Alberta's Open Data initiative, the list of schools and jurisdictions is now available exclusively in machine-readable and searchable Excel format.

Contact

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Email: [email protected]

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