Two of the current United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim for quality education and gender equality, which are inextricably linked. Education efforts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have rarely addressed issues of gender equality as children start school, except to expand access for girls. The authors explore how gender equality can be addressed within schools and communities in LMICs at the start of primary school. The authors offer promising strategies to make early grade education efforts more gender transformative and thus more effective.