I just began an e-discussion with someone about whether or not teachers should check their students’ drafts (i.e., EACH STUDENT’S DRAFT) prior to allowing the kids to move forward and publish their work. We both think the same way: ABSOLUTELY! This absolutely needs to happen in order to ensure that not only is the child doing his/her work, but to see whether or not there is evidence of the teacher’s teaching (i.e., the minilessons given daily) in the child’s writing.
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to go through a pile of drafts that kids write prior to publishing. However, after teaching for four years, I’ve come to believe that kids need us to respond to their work. Furthermore, we need to read young writers’ drafts before letting them publish so we can plan effective strategy lessons, or even whole-class minilessons, if the same issues are cropping up in more than two students’ drafts.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
I have on my students’ rubrics that they must have a teacher conference before turning in their final drafts. I tell them to conference with me after they have finished their rough drafts. Yes, some students see me while they are working on their drafts, too. This is time consuming, but Stacey is right on seeing their drafts before the final! You get a sense of the child’s process and if they understand the assignment š
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