WA POST: Montgomery County and Arithmetic etc. "Basic Math at last"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110407825.html

Montgomery County schools to push basic math to prepare students for Algebra

By Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 5, 2010; 12:00 AM

"Elementary and middle school students will no longer skip grade levels in math in large numbers. Instead, they will spend extra time on fundamental mathematical concepts that will better prepare them for Algebra I in the eighth grade and advanced math topics in high school. The school system aims to increase the number of high school students taking courses such as calculus and statistics."

and also ...

"Some students were placed in classes, and perhaps they weren't as prepared as they should have been," said Frieda Lacey, deputy superintendent of Montgomery schools, who sat on the work group that wrote the report. She said it was better to tackle topics in greater depth.

She called Montgomery's previous push for greater math acceleration an "overcorrection." But she also said the school system would not abandon accelerating students altogether.

So my question is: Has someone actually figured out that Arithmetic Skills are fundamental to Number Sense and understanding mathematics? or is this just the next deal in the cycle of churning pedagogical hit and miss changes?