Well, now I'm depressed. Here's DD9's 3rd grade list for the week, and bear in mind that she's in the top spelling group:

away, before, again, because, ago, between, around, begin, believe, about, alive, become, beyond, ahead, beside, across, below, asleep, afraid, began, behind, above, along

They can be tested on any 10 of the above words. I think we're looking at a case of quantity = quality in the school's eyes.