A study evaluated student performance in general education public speaking courses as a case study of student skills and programmatic assessment. Participants were 100 students giving speeches in general education lower-level public speaking class who were assessed using the Competent Speaker, a rubric developed by the National Communication Association. The results suggest that students taking the general education public speaking course are below satisfactory standards on five of the eight competencies defined by the National Communication Association and are above satisfactory standards on two of the eight competencies. The implications of these results for this particular program, other communication departments, and communication across the curriculum in general education are discussed.