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Hello! It’s Becky Vevea, bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago, looking forward to picking up my kids’ report cards and attending parent-teacher conferences today.

On Friday, state officials released an annual trove of school data known as the Illinois Report Card. This year, some 27% of schools were labeled with the top Exemplary status after an overhaul of the calculation for determining these designations. In the past, only the top 10% of schools could be deemed Exemplary. Read Makiya Seminera’s full story about this and several other key indicators of school success.

Also, there’s just one more sleep until Election Day and I, personally, am ready for the results to roll in. Chalkbeat partnered with dozens of news organizations to help Chicagoans understand the historic moment and learn about school board candidates. If you’re preparing to vote on Tuesday or still staring at your mail-in ballot on the kitchen table, like me, please check out our comprehensive voter guide built with Block Club, WBEZ, and the Sun-Times and other election resources from news partners across the city. And stay tuned today for one more vital bit of information: candidates’ favorite Chicago pizza!

As always, reply here with tips, questions, and feedback.

Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.

No kids? Here's the $10 billion reason Chicago school board race still impacts you, NBC5

Chicago Public Schools Holds First Black Student Union Conference, Chicago Crusader

Chicago ditched school ratings years ago, but 1 in 5 school board candidates want to bring them back, WBEZ