Sample Evaluation Question

In Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, and student learning (Gareis & Grant, 2015 p.70) they suggest that the best way to evaluate a student’s oral language skills is to have them give an oral presentation. They say this is more authentic than recalling answers about public speaking, but go on to say. “However, what the teacher will gain in authenticity, will be lost in efficiency.”

On Jon Mueller’s website Authentic Assessment Toolbox http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm he creates a dichotomy where traditional and authentic forms of evaluation are juxtaposed. An example would be, “Contrived vs. real life” or “Selecting a response vs. performing a task.”

Could we then say that traditional methods are more efficient than authentic methods? What is more efficient about using traditional methods? What lets us get a better picture of learning or knowledge: an authentic or traditional evaluation? What is authenticity in evaluation? Please discuss these questions and your interpretation of traditional and authentic evaluation as well as what constitutes efficiency in evaluation and efficiency of what? You have a 750 word limit.