For those who don't bother to read the article - the school in question has an accelerated program, and the students are ahead of the test. They no longer care about 8th grade curricular, because they are up to calculus by then.
I'd guess that this means they understand 8th grade curricular, but the test isn't testing deep understanding, just speed and accuracy of the basic skills. Most tests are badly flawed like this, and create a misaligned incentive for teachers to grill students on a very narrow subset of the syllabus.
I'd guess that this means they understand 8th grade curricular, but the test isn't testing deep understanding, just speed and accuracy of the basic skills. Most tests are badly flawed like this, and create a misaligned incentive for teachers to grill students on a very narrow subset of the syllabus.