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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 January 2024 student count.
Grade	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023	2023/2024*
ECS	73,527	59,943	67,428	68460	70,099
Grade 1	56,289	57,103	54,204	58,420	58,711
Grade 2	56,236	55,674	56706	55,557	60,601
Grade 3	55,826	56,395	55,628	58,439	57,827
Grade 4	56,045	55,890	56,489	57,129	60,672
Grade 5	57,439	56,171	56,116	58,172	59,289
Grade 6	56,715	57,564	56,443	57,607	60,275
Grade 7	55,758	56,764	57,625	57,873	59,623
Grade 8	52,794	55,904	56,907	58,934	59,668
Grade 9	50,762	52,597	55,772	57,505	60,358
Grade 10	52,037	52,038	54,214	58,928	60,692
Grade 11	51,388	51,324	52,186	55,154	59,614
Grade 12	68,114	67,427	66,052	67,880	72,609
All grades	742,930	734,794	745,770	770,058	800,038

Table 2. Alberta student population by authority system

School authority system	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023	2023/2024*
Public	494,053	483,578	492,362	508,220	524,705
Separate	176,128	174,689	173,436	177,588	185,150
Francophone	8,898	8,573	8,765	9,087	9,541
Charter	9,918	10,012	10,575	11,257	12,807
ECS Private Operator	7,132	5,750	7,061	7,847	8,284
Private School	33,382	38,078	39,292	41,159	45,477
Provincial	1,834	1,622	1,625	1,571	1,214
Federal – First Nations	10,903	11,926	12,017	12,588	12,204
Federal	682	566	637	741	656
All schools and authorities	742,930	734,794	745,770	770,058	800,038

*Enrolment as of January 2024 student count.
**Student population supervised by a school authority is also included in school authority numbers.
Home education population	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023	2023/2024*
Shared Responsibility Program**	1,207	1,162	1,400	1,757	2,078
Home Education**	13,523	24,198	21,296	19,449	22,553

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	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023
10	ECS Developmentally Immature	312	273	264	148	135
30	ECS Mildly or Moderately Disabled	10,026	9,207	5,124	4,891	5,466
51	Mild Cognitive Disability	5,067	4,980	4,694	4,661	4,599
52	Moderate Cognitive Disability	496	517	512	566	590
53	Emotional/Behavioural Disability	5,767	5,887	5,381	5,320	5,599
54	Learning Disability	20,439	20,941	20,610	20,979	22,266
55	Hearing Disability	569	644	634	648	669
56	Visual Disability	168	168	156	165	177
57	Communications Disability	7,520	8,227	8,388	8,555	8,739
58	Physical/Medical Disability	10,035	11,274	11,858	13,334	15,428
59	Multiple Disability	4,616	5,160	5,602	6,347	6,790
	Mild/Moderate total	65,015	67,278	63,223	65,614	70,458
80	Gifted and Talented	6,638	6,645	6,233	6,204	6,261
	Gifted total	6,638	6,645	6,233	6,204	6,261
41	Severe Cognitive Disability	173	163	147	149	155
42	Severe Emotional/Behavioural Disability	10,202	10,470	9,655	9,555	9,375
43	Severe Multiple Disability	1,723	1,756	1,629	1,660	1,727
44	Severe Physical or Medical Disability	14,566	15,721	16,375	18,053	20,476
45	Deafness	423	444	441	432	427
46	Blindness	194	189	198	180	176
47	ECS Severe Delay Involving Language	10,189	10,405	5,936	6,253	6,458
48	ECS Moderate Language Delay	-	-	-	1,866	2,043
	Severe total	37,470	39,148	34,381	38,148	40,837
99	More than one special education code	1,030	1,203	1,248	1,333	1,430
	More than one special education code total	1,030	1,203	1,248	1,333	1,430
	Overall total	110,153	114,274	105,085	111,299	118,986

Table 4. Alberta special education statistics by grade

Grade	2018/2019				2019/2020				2020/2021				2021/2022				2022/2023
Grade	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	10,338	370	14,241	23	9,480	386	14,686	17	5,388	258	10,139	13	5,039	314	13,062	9	5,601	333	14,403	19
Grade 1	3,069	226	1,914	29	3,485	231	1,929	28	3,224	200	1,987	20	3,125	211	1,938	23	3,617	266	2,135	29
Grade 2	4,901	593	1,930	105	3,397	263	1,983	43	3,494	250	1860	39	3,600	268	2,115	42	3,644	254	2,135	64
Grade 3	4,897	811	1,947	87	3,836	358	1,962	62	3,755	304	1,981	75	4,105	333	2,010	67	4,398	359	2,322	73
Grade 4	4,718	798	1,739	116	4,409	427	2,085	90	4,386	363	1,898	81	4,550	376	2,005	109	4,953	395	2,164	87
Grade 5	4,810	735	1,745	95	5,012	596	2,136	104	4,855	509	2,056	119	5,023	521	1,988	106	5,285	593	2,120	135
Grade 6	4,810	732	1,815	80	5,378	781	2,021	132	5,289	778	2,133	124	5,492	718	2,110	137	5,725	755	2,142	133
Grade 7	4,835	434	1,855	87	5,210	820	1,949	118	5,485	790	1,941	137	5,725	786	2,095	124	5,967	706	2,130	149
Grade 8	4,611	387	1,798	97	4,972	798	1,814	126	5,362	805	1,928	136	5,850	784	1,994	151	6,181	766	2,194	137
Grade 9	6,441	381	2,579	102	4,983	709	1,780	118	5,163	788	1,850	131	5,700	777	2,047	148	6,203	772	2,104	161
Grade 10	3,278	292	1,853	49	5,055	424	1,983	102	5,109	360	1,888	123	5,455	401	2,012	134	6,166	367	2,185	140
Grade 11	3,867	401	1,980	75	5,148	428	1,926	115	5,126	391	1,906	111	5,305	336	1,952	138	5,778	383	2,021	135
Grade 12	4,440	478	2,074	85	6,913	424	2,894	148	6,587	437	2,814	139	6,645	379	2,820	145	6,940	312	2,782	168
All grades	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	70,458	6,261	40,837	1,430

Table 5. Funded headcount enrolment

School authority system	2021/22 Headcount (projection)	2021/22 Headcount (actual)	2022/23 Headcount (projection)	2022/23 Headcount (actual)	2023/24 Headcount (projection)	2023/24 Headcount (actual)
Public, Separate, Francophone and Charter	674,044	662,310	673,874	685,016	701,869	709,615
Private School	25,423	25,120	27,202	26,989	29,058	28,669
ECS Private Operator	7,227	7,037	7,877	7,789	8,208	8,296
Funded Headcount	706,694	694,467	708,953	719,794	739,135	746,580
Funded Home Education and Shared Responsibility	19,960	22,401	22,401	20,729	20,418	22,259
	726,654	716,868	731,354	740,523	759,553	768,839

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.

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