What we expect from public programs determines how the programs will be judged. This article presents a systematic values inquiry used to examine how much importance citizens and stakeholders attached to specific indicators in determining the success of a public preschool program. Four groups were surveyed: teachers, administrators, parents and the public. All four groups showed significant differences with respect to the importance of 29 possible indicators. The four groups agreed on the importance of high-quality services and about the lack of importance associated with economic benefits for families and certain educational outcomes for the preschoolers. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the opinions of the groups were shown to have similar underlying structures; however, teachers made greater distinctions between the groups of potential outcomes and the public distinguished between outcomes the least. Systematic values inquiry can be an important tool in designing evaluations that will produce information that can influence the judgments of citizens and stakeholders about a program's value.
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