DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s Education Department director says the state will continue its effort to receive a waiver from the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act.  U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday granted exemptions to eight more states, bringing the total to 19 that have been granted waivers.  Iowa Education Director Jason Glass told The Des Moines Register that state laws governing teacher evaluations likely kept Iowa from an exemption.  The federal waiver guidelines say states must adopt teacher evaluation systems that include student achievement data and say districts must rank educators’ performance levels.  Gov. Terry Branstad’s education reform bill included evaluation proposals that would have met the waiver application guidelines. But the Legislature didn’t adopt those proposals this year.