Many of today's students are reading below grade level and schools are investigating methods for increasing student achievement in the area of reading. This mixed method research study investigated the achievement of students who were reading below grade level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between reading response journals as an intervention and student achievement of fourth and fifth grade students in a suburban school district. The research questions this study addressed were: (1) Does implementation of reading response journals improve student achievement in reading? (2) Does implementation of reading response journals aid a student in preparing for the Common Core State Standards? (3) What impact do reading response journals have on a student's instructional reading level? The researcher used a teacher questionnaire to obtain qualitative data. The researcher used paired t-tests to compare DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) scores from September 2012 and December 2012 and reading pre and posttest scores. These results were then triangulated to provide conclusions. The researcher concluded that the use of reading response journals can have a positive effect on students' reading level, responding to their reading using higher order thinking skills, and growing as a reader in general. Many of the qualitative findings centered on the high need for students to be active writers during the reading process. Although an overwhelmingly large number of students improved during this research study, it is difficult to conclude that these results were yielded solely from using reading response journals as an intervention to benefit student achievement. The results of this study can open the door for expansion in the area of reading response journals. Suggestions for school districts are to increase the amount of time that students are spending on authentic experiences with reading and writing and to teach reading and writing across the curriculum. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]