My kids also have a problem with not turning homework in. A good friend is mystified and says to them, "But surely, DOING it is the hard part --- not, you know, handing it in when they ask for it." It has to be a developmental thing.
I'm pretty sure that the lead teacher at their junior high told me that most of the kids there struggle with this problem. The school's philosophy is to scaffold as much as possible at that age, and to ramp down as they go through high school.
In contrast, another teacher dictates exactly how the binder should be organized in an intuitive way, tells them where everything should be filed, assigns HW the same day of the week always, etc. She has over a 100% in that class (that teacher has been teaching 20+years).
I think this is the way it should be. It's not reasonable to expect 11- and 12-year-old kids to have a high level of executive function, and IMO, the school should be helping to develop it by ensuring that stuff is filed properly and that homework assignments get written down (e.g. "Okay, I wrote the assignment on the board, get your organizer out and copy it in."). In this way, behavior can start to drive attitude.
My kids also lie about the assignments because "it's easier to lie than get in trouble/do the homework." So there is that. They've started to learn that they're going to get into trouble for lying and (hopefully) are starting to consider the possibility that it actually
is easier to just do the work. That said, their school doesn't hand out a lot of busy work. I can understand reluctance to waste time on busy work. I can also understand that it kind of has to be done anyway. Busy work (don't know if your daughter gets it) isn't an easy situation.
