I see there's been a lot of discussion on this topic, but I'll add my two cents as an educator.
I do presentation training and public speaking training. My issue with "in class presentations" is that educators want students to present but never actually teach them how to present.
Public speaking in general is all about practice. No high school student practices their presentation in front of a mirror or in front of a friend on their own terms. If they want them to present, they need to give them the resources to succeed and make it a learning experience without pushing them too far out of their comfort zone.
Here are some strategies I've used that have worked for me: - Forced practice sessions in class. Have the students go to different parts of the room and practice their presentation in front of a small group of classmates (their friends are okay) - Have a "rehearsal day". Have the students do a "rehearsal" presentation in front of the class that will not be graded. Students are already panicked about having to talk in front of a group. The looming grade attached to the presentation only adds to the stress. Separate it out and have them deal with one issue at a time. - Do speaking exercises often. Even when not presenting, I always have speaking prompts where students share something about themselves. My favorite exercise is "highs and lows", where students share something great that happened to them in the past week and something not-so-great. I trains them to talk in a group about something they are comfortable with. - In some cases, I don't even grade the presentation. If the students are doing a paper or project that is accompanied by a presentation, I make the presentation as a celebration of what they created. I won't grade them on it, but they are still required to present. This once again removes some of the fear that speaking poorly will affect their grade. They can focus on what they are saying and who they are saying it to.
I don't think that giving students alternatives to presenting is the way to go. We just need to do a better job of training them to speak and present so they are not deathly afraid of it. It's nowhere near as challenging to give a well-rehearsed presentation. Personally, I practice any public speech I give seven times before I say it in front of an audience. And that's with over 10 years of public speaking experience.