This sounds like the "Lattice" method and I thank my lucky stars our school doesn't use it. I have seen it being used in other local school districts for multiplication and division and it is very confusing to me (and almost everyone else that I've witnessed trying to figure it out).

To be fair, if a child was just learning to do multiplication and division maybe it would make sense, but for me already knowing how and then trying to figure out what number goes in what box was grueling.