SANFORD, N.C. — Led by two of its classmates, a freshman literature class plotted to break out of a concentration camp. The high school students held a detailed discussion of the best time to elude the guards and how to survive after escaping, based on the book they were reading for class. When time was up, they trooped back out into the Central Carolina Community College campus to go to their next class.

It’s been almost two years since high school students moved onto the CCCC campus through Lee Early College. The school nearly doubled in size in the 2007-08 school year from 73 to 156.

Principal Rob Dietrich said the program held a “learning semester” in the fall as staff worked to help more students integrate into college classes, but they’re back on track.

LEC offers both core high school and college classes free of charge. It’s part of Gov. Mike Easley’s Learn and Earn Early College High School educational initiative in which students graduate in five years with both a diploma and an associate degree, with all credits transferable if they choose to enroll at a four-year institution as a junior post-graduation.

“The challenge is to engage the students and prepare them for college not in four years, but tomorrow,” Dietrich said.

LEC is funded primarily by a $1.5 million grant from the state that lasts through 2011, with additional money from various sources, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dietrich said discussions are taking place on finding funding after the grant runs out, but right now the primary focus is on current students.

Dietrich’s measurement of the school’s effectiveness is based on multiple factors: number of applications, student performance in college courses, number of students who graduate and what kinds of schools or jobs they go on to.

With no graduating class for another three years, the latter measurements aren’t yet available, but Dietrich said school leaders have been pleased so far with the first two. The school actively recruits from East and West Lee middle schools, and Dietrich said staff members receive multiple e-mails and phone calls every week from interested parents.