Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the use of the Public Health Foundation's (Public Health Foundation [PHF], 2014) Competency Assessment for Tier 1 Public Health Professionals to examine prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students' self‐reported levels of competence in public health before and after completing community health nursing courses.

Design: Prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in community health nursing courses completed a pre and postcourse Competency Assessment for Tier 1 Public Health Professionals survey. The survey results were analyzed using nonparametric tests to determine whether there were significant differences in pre and postsurvey scores for the eight domains of public health core competencies, and for an overall competency score.

Results: Significant differences were found in the pre and postaggregate mean scores for each of the eight domains of public health core competency, and the overall mean public health competency score. Chi‐square testing of pre and postcourse competency found significant difference in the proportion of students who met criteria for self‐reported competence in each of the eight domains and overall public health competence.

Conclusion: The Competency Assessment for Tier 1 Public Health Professionals can assist baccalaureate nursing faculty with assessing precourse learning needs, and postcourse evaluation of self‐reported competence in public health.