During a webinar that I hosted earlier today the topic of Google Sites access settings came up. That topic usually does come up whenever I talk about using Google Sites with students. It comes up because just as there is a difference between publishing and sharing Google Documents there is a difference between publishing and sharing Google Sites. 

The difference between sharing and publishing Google Sites:

• Publishing a Google Site means to make it available to view on the web. 
• A published site can be restricted to a small audience. A published Google Site is essentially view-only. 
• Sharing a Google Site means to invite other people to collaborate on editing the site with you. 
• You can invite people to be collaborators via email or via a sharing link.