States and school districts endeavoring to improve learning outcomes for young children typically focus on literacy, not math. Math is often overlooked in improvement initiatives, and it gets far less instructional time than literacy in preschool and the early grades. While literacy skills are unquestionably critical, so are math skills. Math performance in the U.S. is declining. Math achievement is particularly low for children living in poverty and for children of color. One might think that the data point to preschool as the solution to closing the achievement gap. But research also clearly shows that investment in preschool alone is insufficient. Most studies of preschool show that children who participated in high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with higher math (and literacy) skills than children who did not attend. Thus, efforts to raise math achievement overall and to reduce the achievement gap require attention to both preschool and the early elementary grades. A systems-based approach to implementing these strategies is key. Policies in one domain can undo policies in another. Teacher and leadership credentialing requirements, for example, need to align with student learning standards, which need to align with curricula.