Hang in there! My SD did this exact thing. She wouldn't retain words at all, the same way you described. We (DH, BM, and step-dad) really made reading important at both houses. She has to read every night. We also started reading to her and then have her read back to us. We made flashcards of words she was struggling with. All of a sudden, it just clicked with her. We went to parent teacher conf. last week and found out that SD is now ahead of where they want her to be by the end of the year! We've found genres she really likes (Goosebumps books, any animal book, and now she's reading the BFG ♥) and it helps her get into it. I've been reading the Hunger Games books to her and she actually pays attention and retains what I'm telling her. It also helps to have her summarize the chapter that you've just read. For example, have her read to you, and then ask her what it's about. If she can't tell you, have her read it again. I know my SD figured out really quickly that her dad's patience is slim, so if she "struggles" long enough, he'll tell her the word. We've stopped that. We've also stopped telling her what things say, and that's motivated her really try to read something. Just keep with her and I'm sure she'll get it! Good luck!

Closed captioning on the tv ALL the time. Then it shows the words that they are hearing. My SS's first grade teacher told us this, but we use it always so I can understand what's going on.

My younger sister has a similar problem that took a lot of time and work. She was a terrble reader, always behind and it was not until she was in junior high that it became apparent. It took my mom an entire year to get the school to see the problem and help her. She is a verbal learner, and as long as someone else is reading to her she can remember what the story is about. If you tell her to read the story herself she will not remember a single thing she read and cannot answer a basic question. If you had her read Green Eggs and Ham, and asked her who was trying to get the cat to eat the green eggs and ham she could not tell you (btw it was Sam). My mom would study with her for tests and review the subject with her, and she would know everything but then she would sit down and read the test question and fail. It is almost like a disconnect between what her eyes are seeing and her brain is reading and her memory. She could read an entire book and have no memory of what the book was about. I think hooked on phonics may help in the memorization, and I think finding a book series that she is really into may help as well. You might try asking the program through the school that she was in what they are doing and maybe trying that. I know my SS was in a reading program and mostly they would spend 20 minutes a day reading in some form, whether it was out loud in a group or quietly by themselves, or even one on one with the teacher but it helped in out a lot and he excelled in school as long as he was getting this little extra help with reading. I know it still helps my sister to read out loud when she is learning something new.

All good advice. I would suggest finding a chapter book type story that is interesting to her, maybe even one where she has seen the movie like Harry Potter. Read every night at bedtime until you are at a point in the book that is genuinely interesting. It will help if she has seen the movie because then you can compare as you go (and help her retain information on the story) Once you are at a point where she is genuinely interested, take turns reading with her. Have her read a page or two and then discuss.

Every night I read to kids/skids I always start like this.

-who remembers where we left off?
-what do you think will happen with xyz?
-did you notice anything weird about abc, like maybe it's a clue?

I have always been a reader and it's important to me that my bios at least try so I always try to make it a fun thing that we can engage in together. One bio is very advanced in reading, the other one is getting tutoring and struggling a little more, some of this stuff is similar to the whole "my kid potty trained at 7 months old vs. my kid wears pull ups at 4" every child is different. If she is excelling in other areas school wise, this will come, stick with the tutoring.

When my sd was little we had the same issue in kindergarten. I bought some reading comprehension workbooks (the have some at the dollar tree, at least they did years ago) and we would work on one page a day in addition to her reading a book she enjoyed. It took a while but by the fifth grade she was doing well and now she reads all the time for enjoyment. Just stick with it, one day everything will click. You're a great mom for noticing and making the effort to help outside of school. It can be frustrating, but hang in there.

I'm just concerned because it seems when she reads she does not retain information.
For example, she'll come to the word "quickly". We sound it out together and she gets it. She'll continue reading and then in the next paragraph she comes across the word again and she doesn't remember it from earlier

My DD11 suffered from a closed-brain injury at age 18-20 months and now also experiences learning difficulties, especially like that above. We first noticed when my DD couldn't remember the word "butter." Every morning she'd ask for "that stuff" on her toast. We'd go over what "that stuff" was called (butter). During the day, I'd point at the butter dish and ask her what it was. She'd say "I like it" or "I eat it" but couldn't recall the word "butter." It took nearly a year, of every day repetition, to learn the word butter before she could consistently recall it. It was heart-breaking. And it was when we knew there was a problem.

We've tried *everything* to help her learn, help her to enjoy learning and help boost her confidence. This is some of what works for us. Some of these we do only at home, some are accommodations her school has made for her:
*Short study sessions (no longer than 30 minutes per subject if possible)
*Smaller group study sessions, occasionally one-on-one help.
*Physical motion while learning (sitting/balancing on an exercise ball, bouncing on a mini-trampoline, walking, even petting the cat!)
*Taking tests that require oral answers so she can try to explain it in her own words. Coming up with an answer, trying to think of an organized way to write it/communicate it and then actually write it is hard for her. Not every kid fits into the cookie-cutter American model of teaching/testing. Find what works for your child.
*Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. And patience. Teach the same concept in several ways. When DD had to learn state capitols, we wrote down the capitol names. We looked at them on maps. We talked about them over and over. We came up with silly stories to remember them (example: Mary's best friend is Ann. We drew a picture of Mary and Ann. The capitol of Maryland is Annapolis. Or we'd say "Pennsylvania is really hairy!" [Harrisburg, PA] and draw a picture of the state with hair all over it. For Charleston, West Virginia, we literally danced the "Charleston" dance while she recited that capitol)
*I ask my DD to teach me what she's learning. I ask her questions and let her be the one who has the answers.
*I NEVER NEVER compare her to her older siblings (DD25 and DS23 who did well in school) and I NEVER NEVER let the skids put her down or compare her grades to theirs (the skids' grades are better).
*I don't make excuses for her challenges and don't let anyone pity her. Help her? Yes. Encourage her? Yes. But never pity, and no excuse-making. We just work with what we've got and make the best of it.

It does start to help. It never gets "easier" but patience is key. Support is a must. My DD may never be an A-honor roll student, but good grades in school don't automatically mean a successful life. There's lots of definitions of success and happiness that are not scholastically related.

What kind of friends does she have?

I can tell you that makes a huge difference. When I was a freshman in high school, I hung out with a chick whose grades were in the 70s to low 80s, my grades slid from a 90 to 80. Then in my sophomore year, I became close friends with two girls who has 96-97s, my grade went back to the low 90s. They cared about studying so sometimes when we hung out that's what we would do.