District school boards administer publicly funded elementary and secondary schools. Working within the framework of Alberta’s Education Act and its regulations, district school boards adapt provincial education policy to local situations. Trustees, as elected members of the board, represent the local community and provide a link between electors and the education system.

Alberta Learning governs both the Public School Board and the Separate (Catholic) School Board, which are run as separate entities.

Children aged 6 to 16 must attend school. Most opt to remain in school to earn their grade 12 diploma. The high school program is based on the credit system; students earn 1 credit for every 25 hours of instruction. To graduate with a diploma, each student must have 100 credits in Compulsory and Optional courses. Most courses are worth between 3 and 5 credits. To broaden their high school program, students are required to have 10 credits from either Career and Technical studies, Physical Education, Fine Arts, or a second language. Also they are required to have 10 credits from more in-depth studies (i.e. English, Biology, Physics, etc.).

Alberta is a part of the Western Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education Kindergarten to Grade 12. This is a project that involves The Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nunavut. They are working on developing common curriculum formats for math, computer guided learning, languages, and cultures.