Student population statistics

Student population

Starting with 2013/2014, the definition of an Alberta student is an individual who is registered as of September 30th 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

Grade	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022 Preliminary
ECS	71,524	72,374	73,527	59,943	67,300
Grade 1	55,746	56,229	56,289	57,103	54,202
Grade 2	55,245	55,422	56,236	55,674	56,707
Grade 3	56,400	55,495	55,826	56,395	55,615
Grade 4	55,796	56,804	56,045	55,890	56,472
Grade 5	54,717	56,189	57,439	56,171	56,115
Grade 6	51,709	55,247	56,715	57,564	56,396
Grade 7	50,335	52,171	55,758	56,764	57,623
Grade 8	49,268	50,769	52,794	55,904	56,898
Grade 9	48,897	49,320	50,762	52,597	55,780
Grade 10	49,645	51,374	52,037	52,038	53,938
Grade 11	48,913	49,934	51,388	51,324	51,970
Grade 12	71,694	69,047	68,114	67,427	65,793
All Grades	719,889	730,375	742,930	734,794	744,809

Table 2. Alberta student population by authority system

Notes: Starting in 2019/20, changes were made to the statistics in cases where students receive programming from more than one provider. These changes support more accurate counts by school and by authority.
School Authority System	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022 Preliminary
Public	483,661	487,710	494,053	483,578	492,394
Separate	168,687	173,272	176,128	174,689	173,454
Francophone	8,398	8,617	8,898	8,573	8,773
Charter	9,530	9,576	9,918	10,012	10,578
ECS Private Operator	6,563	6,942	7,132	5,750	7,075
Private School	30,552	31,632	33,382	38,078	39,194
Provincial	1,577	1,701	1,834	1,622	1,044
Federal - First Nations	10,314	10,293	10,903	11,926	11,768
Federal	607	632	682	566	529
All Schools & Authorities	719,889	730,375	742,930	734,794	744,809

* Student population is also included in school authority numbers.
Home education population	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022 Preliminary
Shared Responsibility Program*	1,141	1,175	1,207	1,162	1,289
Home Education*	11,883	12,516	13,523	24,642	21,654

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	2016/2017	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021
10	ECS Developmentally Immature	337	332	312	273	264
30	ECS Mildly or Moderately Disabled	10,618	9,831	10,026	9,207	5,124
51	Mild Cognitive Disability	5,462	5,313	5,067	4,980	4,694
52	Moderate Cognitive Disability	482	502	496	517	512
53	Emotional/Behavioural Disability	5,742	5,717	5,767	5,887	5,381
54	Learning Disability	20,532	20,439	20,439	20,941	20,610
55	Hearing Disability	500	536	569	644	634
56	Visual Disability	136	167	168	168	156
57	Communications Disability	7,343	7,474	7,520	8,227	8,388
58	Physical/Medical Disability	8,030	9,007	10,035	11,274	11,858
59	Multiple Disability	3,654	4,068	4,616	5,160	5,602
	Mild/Moderate Total	62,836	63,386	65,015	67,278	63,223
80	Gifted and Talented	6,775	6,752	6,638	6,645	6,233
	Gifted Total	6,775	6,752	6,638	6,645	6,233
41	Severe Cognitive Disability	201	186	173	163	147
42	Severe Emotional/Behavioural Disability	9,540	9,897	10,202	10,470	9,655
43	Severe Multiple Disability	1,571	1,635	1,723	1,756	1,629
44	Severe Physical or Medical Disability	12,506	13,390	14,566	15,721	16,375
45	Deafness	393	400	423	444	441
46	Blindness	201	205	194	189	198
47	ECS Severe Delay Involving Language	9,142	9,828	10,189	10,405	5,936
	Severe Total	33,554	35,541	37,470	39,148	34,381
99	More than one special education code	905	841	1,030	1,203	1,248
	More than one special education code Total	905	841	1,030	1,203	1,248
	Overall Total	104,070	106,520	110,153	114,274	105,085

Table 4. Alberta special education statistics by grade

Grade	2016/2017				2017/2018				2018/2019				2019/2020				2020/2021
	Mild/Moderate	Gifted	Severe	More than one Sp Ed code	Mild/Moderate	Gifted	Severe	More than one Sp Ed code	Mild/Moderate	Gifted	Severe	More than one Sp Ed code	Mild/Moderate	Gifted	Severe	More than one Sp Ed code	Mild/Moderate	Gifted		Severe	More than one Sp Ed code
ECS	10,955	450	12,497	8	10,163	414	13,551	20	10,338	370	14,241	23	9,480	386	14,686	17	5,388	258		10,139	13
Grade 1	3,138	233	1,737	23	3,003	247	1,755	15	3,069	226	1,914	29	3,485	231	1,929	28	13,224	200	1,987		20
Grade 2	3,248	270	1,728	48	3,252	285	1,833	27	3,278	292	1,852	49	3,397	263	1,983	43	3,494	250	1860		39
Grade 3	3,820	363	1,712	56	3,820	405	1,888	57	3,867	401	1,980	75	3,836	358	1,962	62	3,755	304	1,981		75
Grade 4	3,970	523	1,714	73	4,363	446	1,824	64	4,440	478	2,074	85	4,409	427	2,085	90	4,386	363	1,898		81
Grade 5	4,093	567	1,609	86	4,491	601	1835	76	4,901	593	1,930	105	5,012	596	2,136	104	4,855	509	2,056		119
Grade 6	4,338	698	1,680	91	4,517	800	1,701	77	4,897	811	1,947	87	5,378	781	2,021	132	5,289	778	2,133		124
Grade 7	4,348	756	1,641	86	4,573	740	1,716	81	4,718	798	1,739	116	5,210	620	1,949	118	5,485	790	1,940		137
Grade 8	4,496	790	1,670	83	4,553	748	1,709	69	4,810	735	1,745	95	4,972	798	1,814	126	5,362	805	1,928		136
Grade 9	4,282	758	1,633	78	4,728	766	1,725	80	4,810	732	1,815	80	4,983	709	1,780	118	5,163	788	1,850		131
Grade 10	4,753	480	1,775	75	4,629	453	1,821	89	4,853	434	1,855	87	5,055	424	1,983	102	5,109	360	1,888		123
Grade 11	4,706	440	1,619	91	4,708	412	1,739	78	4,611	387	1,798	97	5,148	428	1,926	115	5,126	391	1,906		111
Grade 12	6,689	447	2,539	107	6,586	435	2444	108	6,441	381	2,579	102	6,913	424	2,894	148	6,587	437	2,814		139
All Grades	62,836	6,775	33,554	905	63,386	6,752	35,541	841	65,051	6,638	37,470	1,030	67,278	6,645	39,148	1,203	63,223	6,233	34,381		1,248

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	2019/20 Headcount (Actual)	2020/21 Headcount (Projection)	2020/21 Headcount (Actual)	2021/22 Headcount (Projection)	2021/22 Headcount (Actual)
Public, Separate, Francophone and Charter	667,223	683,764	651,818	674,044	662,310
Private School	22,575	24,284	23,066	25,423	25,120
ECS Private Operator	6,976	7,307	5,959	7,227	7,037
Funded Headcount*	696,774	715,355	680,843	706,694	694,467
Funded Home Education and Shared Responsibility*	15,069	14,675	25,074	19,960	22,401
	711,843	730,030	705,917	726,654	716,868

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.

2021/2022 Preliminary School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 256 KB)

2021/2022 Preliminary Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 48 KB)

2020/2021 School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 255 KB)

2020/2021 Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 46 KB)

2019/2020 School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 205 KB)

2019/2020 Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 30 KB)

2018/2019 School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 206 KB)

2018/2019 Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 31 KB)

2017/2018 School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 247 KB)

2017/2018 Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 39 KB)

2016/2017 School Enrolment Data (XLSX, 243 KB)

2016/2017 Authority Enrolment Data (XLSX, 39 KB)