First of all, I think that technique is nuts as an educational method. Five and six year olds cannot instantly intuit that 27+38 = (20+30)+(5+8+2) in their heads before they've ever had lessons on doing math the mechanical way, carrying the one, etc. They need to know how to add before they can start doing intuitive pre-processing in their heads. They may be able to do the pre-processing later, after they've seen a lot of math problems, but you can't just skip the basics.

Second of all, did you follow the Twitchy link I posted? At the bottom of the page they have about ten other links to other posts, each pointing to a "technique" or "problem" in a common core math book more absurd than the last. Your "abacus-like" method is less insane than some of them, but the sum total is entirely consistent with what I'm saying: it's a cargo cult mentality.