Residence training is defined in Brazil as a full time learning in practice process, developed in public health institutions, private hospitals and clinics, under surveillance of qualified medical staff. To present the development process of a protocol of evaluation of residence programs in otolaryngology and its classification by quality. Design a comprehensive protocol of evaluation to cover the broad aspects of medical education in otolaryngology. Classify the training programs by quality. Evaluate board certification performance of its residents. Analyze the correlation between program quality classification status and residents scores at the board certification exam. Eighty two residence programs were evaluated across the country in 2004, as follows: level A (12.20%), B+ (7.3%), B (19.5%), C+ (20.7%), C (17.1%), D (20.7%) and E (2.4%) p < 0.005. The evaluation program was able to discriminate, quality-wise, the training programs. The grades from those who passed the ABORL-CCF Board's Exam have the same ranking trend as that of their training institution. There was an improvement in the ranking of training programs after the program was implemented.792-35