Planning the activities for an instructional development unit and evaluating how well it has performed requires a set of standards against which the unit can be compared. This paper proposes a set of standards developed from a variety of references and personal experiences with instructional development units from across the country. Thirty-eight characteristics of a model instructional development unit are presented in five categories: plans and goals, organization and administration, decision making, activities, and evaluation. Eighteen references are listed. (Author/THC)