Community Service Graduation Requirements

To aid students and schools in the tracking and monitoring of community service hours, the district has partnered with Tiersphere. Tiersphere is the district selected web application used to post, find, track, and mobilize individuals to better impact their communities. Students may access Tiersphere via the portal which is located within MyBackpack. This platform will allow students to research and connect with local service opportunities who need volunteers. To allow students and parents access to monitor service hours in real time, organizations who offer service opportunities are encouraged to contact Tiersphere at help@tiersphere.com or Ashley McGroder at amcgroder@tierpshere.com directly. To enroll an organization into Tiersphere, this link https://tinyurl.com/yv935fh4 should be shared with the partnering organization for verification and approval. Students may perform community service within any organization which meets the community organization requirements. Upon completion of service hours with an organization that is not currently enrolled into Tiersphere, students should present documentation on the organization’s letterhead of the details of service (community service contact name, phone number and address of the organization, dates and hours of service, total hours of service completed, brief description of service tasks completed) to the school counselor for submission to Tiersphere.  

In addition to locating potential service opportunities within the Tiersphere app, students may also independently seek community service opportunities. Depending on one’s interest, community service projects are everywhere. Students may choose to search service opportunities online; below are a few websites that may assist students in securing placements, however, if a student secures a placement that is not currently within Tiersphere, the school can initiate adding the organization into Tiersphere and/or the student can provide the organization with the link above to directly enroll into Tiersphere. The student should wait until the organization has been added to the Tiersphere platform before beginning a service project with that organization. If an organization chooses not to onboard with Atlanta Public Schools, the schools will agree to take on the responsibility of verifying, uploading, and approving student community service hours into Tiersphere.  

Students will not have the ability to upload their community service hours into the platform. Students can only register for future opportunities within Tiersphere, and only club sponsors or event organizers have the ability to approve hours for APS students.  

*Students are encouraged to register for an opportunity prior to leaving an event.  

Beginning August 1, 2025, all events must be registered within the Tiersphere platform. All service opportunities must go through Tiersphere’s verification and onboarding process prior to hosting a community service opportunity. All school-based activities must be posted on the platform prior to a scheduled event to allow students to register in advance. All hours and opportunities must be approved and tracked through the Tiersphere platform for students to receive credit. Please check with your high school counselor or the Office of Student Services to learn more about the community service changes beginning in the school year 2025-2026.  

To schedule a community service training with the Office of Student Services, please contact the Office of Student Services, communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us. Training for all APS staff can take place throughout the year, but all high schools must schedule an initial Tiersphere training session before the first day of school. It is recommended that a principal, assistant principal, business manager, or counselor schedule this training session with Maria Grovner in the Office of Student Services to plan your back-to-school training in preparation for the school year 2025-2026. If you are not the current principal or assistant of your school, please ensure you copy your principal and assistant principal in the email to schedule all training sessions.