I had the same problem when I was young. I was so bad that in third grade I had to sit away from everyone else in class, because I would get distracted by anything and everything. Fortunately I was never medicated for it, I simply learned how to control it on my own. The reason my mind wandered is that government schools are designed for the 10th percentile. Children who score below the 10th percentile on standardized tests are allowed to be put into special classes. The rest are "mainstreamed" which means the lessons must go at a pace that the 10th percentile can keep up with. I, howver, always scored around the 90th percentile, and found almost every subject extremely boring and tedious, especially when I discovered I knew more about it than the teacher herself did.

I had no problem sitting still, I just would get bored with classwork. Unfortunately several times teachers tried to "challenge" me with harder work, but since they really didn’t have the time to make sure it was at the proper level (they just made it as hard as they could) it simply taught me that trying to do better was fruitless. It wasn’t until high school that I figured out I had to set my own pace, and not until I was completely out of school that I finally realized the level of that pace.

Also keep in mind that some (not all, but some) teachers will assign too much homework in an effort to make up for their own lack of teaching skills. Check the amount of homework your daughter is doing and see how much time she’s been given to do it in class. If it seems reasonable, then try a reward system. Set an goal of so many problems, then she gets a reward.

There are basically two types of learners, rabbits and turtles. Rabbits learn fast but get bored easily. Turtles learn slow, but love repetition and processes. Government schools are designed for turtle learners. Fortunately there’s a solution. Rabbit learners love a reasonable challenge, but hate processes. Therefore turn processes into a series of challenges. How quickly and how well can they do a short series of problems? Set the challenge, dangle the carrot (the reward) and watch them go. Eventually rabbit learners will learn to set their own mini-challenges in order to get through the turtle process.

A. no drugs
B. not only do the rabbit learners bypass the flaws in the system, thyey eventually build their own system
C. by learning to enjoy challenges, rabbit learners, using this technique, will challenge themselves way beyond the scope of the government school’s ability to handle, which is a good thing!
D. this technique will also solve the problem of the inability of government schools to adequately prepare kids for the brisk pace of college and the even more ruthless pace of real life.