The results of a survey on the characteristics of effective inservice education practices are described and presented. Conducted by the Task Force on Quality Practices in Inservice Education of the National Inservice Network (NIN), the survey is intended to provide planners with illustrations of development, implementation, and evaluation practices of inservice education programs. Respondents included state department of education representatives, teacher center directors, local education agency directors, and educators affiliated with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The survey design is described, followed by a discussion of six broad quality practice statements which formed the categories for the survey analysis. Practices in the first statement describe the importance of creating an inservice system which can be institutionalized. The second through fifth statements are concerned with the essential characteristics of good staff development: responsive to changing needs; accessible to users; collaboratively arranged; and based on participants' needs. The sixth grouping lists practices related to evaluation of inservice education. In appendices, the survey instrument is provided, and survey results are presented with mean ratings and ranking of perceived importance by each respondent group. (FG)