The CMF is big, but maybe this is part of what TFA is talking about. From Chapter 8 pp. 28-30, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/

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Some students will be ready to accelerate into Algebra I or Mathematics I in eighth grade, and, where they are ready to do so successfully, this can support greater access to a broader range of advanced courses for them. At the same time, successful acceleration requires a strong mathematical foundation. Research indicates that in the era in which California policy encouraged all students to take Algebra in eighth grade, success for many students was undermined; widespread acceleration did not enable students to progress as expected to subsequent courses. The authors of one study found that many students had to repeat Algebra I in ninth grade and did not extend their course taking to advanced courses. The authors concluded that: “encouraging more students to take eighth-grade algebra does not by itself lead to significantly more students taking advanced mathematics in high school, nor does it lead to substantial increases in performances in higher mathematics CST.” (Liang, Heckman, and Abedi, 2012, 338). Other studies found mixed effects of this policy across districts of different kinds and for different types of students (Domina et al. 2014; Domina et al. 2015).

These challenges are no doubt a function of students’ curricular readiness—whether they have mastered the right foundations—and the quality of teaching both before and during the course itself. One racially and economically diverse New York middle school that successfully accelerated all of its students offers an example of the conditions that enabled stronger outcomes. The school ended tracking in mathematics and gave all students access to the more advanced three-year curriculum sequence that had previously been reserved to a smaller number. This sequence included in eighth grade the Mathematics I integrated course normally offered in ninth grade. Researchers followed three cohorts in the earlier tracked sequence and three cohorts in the more rigorous untracked sequence. They found that both the initially lower and higher achieving students who learned in the later heterogeneous courses took more advanced math, enjoyed math more and passed the state Regents test in New York sooner than previously. This success was supported by a carefully revised curriculum in grades six through eight, creation of alternate-day support classes, known as mathematics workshops, to assist any students needing extra help, and establishment of common planning periods for mathematics teachers so they could develop stronger pedagogies together (Burris, Heubert, and Levin, 2006).

For schools that offer an eighth grade Algebra course or a Mathematics I course as an option in lieu of Common Core Math 8, both careful plans for instruction that links to students’ prior course taking and an assessment of readiness should be considered. Such an assessment might be coupled with supplementary or summer courses that provide the kind of support for readiness that Bob Moses’ Algebra Project has provided for many years for underrepresented students tackling Algebra (Moses and Cobb, 2002).

One consideration in sequencing mathematics courses is the desire to enable students who would like to reach Calculus by the end of high school to do so. Currently, most high schools require courses in Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II, and Pre-calculus before taking a course in Calculus, or a pathway of Mathematics I, II, III, then Precalculus. This sequence means that students cannot easily reach Calculus in high school unless they have taken a high school algebra course or Mathematics I in middle school.

An alternative to eighth grade acceleration would be to adjust the high school curriculum instead, eliminating redundancies in the content of current courses, so that students do not need four courses before Calculus. As enacted, Algebra II tends to repeat a significant amount of the content of Algebra I, and Precalculus repeats content from Algebra II. While recognizing that some repetition of content has value, further analysis should be conducted to evaluate how high school course pathways may be redesigned to create more streamlined pathways that allow students to take three years of middle school foundations and still reach advanced mathematics courses such as calculus. Schools may also organize supplemental course taking in summer programs, to allow students who start Algebra or Mathematics I in ninth grade to be able to take Calculus in high school if they choose. (See chapter 9 for other possible strategies high schools can adopt.)