The School Based Reform in Arab Countries (TAMAM) project aims to build leadership capacity for school-based reform. This paper asks: (a) To what extent can a design-based approach frame the design of school improvement projects such as TAMAM? (b) What characteristics of design-based approaches are most relevant to guide the design of school-based improvement projects? Results of the qualitative analysis demonstrate that a design-based approach can be used to describe TAMAM and highlight the most important elements. This study proposes that design-based approaches be used for designing and describing comparable school-based improvement initiatives, especially in contexts similar to the Arab region.