A Study On The Development Motive And Reform Model Of Doctoral Degree In Education In America

China establishes its Ed.D. on the basis of international experience, especially the American experience. Grasping the nature and characteristics is of great significance to carry out our Ed.D. education. This study starts from the development dynamic and reform modes of Ed.D. education in the United States, taking the relevant political, economic, cultural and the development dynamic of higher education as independent variables, taking Ed.D. reform modes as dependent variable, to systematically analyze the U.S. Ed.D. concept and its underlying epistemology, methodology and axiology, to summarize the essential laws and developing trends of Ed.D..The background of American Ed.D. in the degree system is the generation and development of Ph.D. and Professional Doctorate, the development of educational science and the transformation of teacher education internally promote the development of Ed.D.. The scale expansion of Ed.D. and the formation of characteristics and training modes mark the maturity of Ed.D.. Ed.D. has formed professional self-management system, and the evaluation system follows the combination of internal evaluation and outside evaluation.The generation and development of Ed.D. in the U.S.A. has not been easy, but always in question or within dilemma, while the similarity of Ed.D. and Ph.D. in education is the biggest problem. It has caused endless debates which focus on two aspects:the nature of Ed.D., the relationship between Ed.D. and Ph.D. in Education. The former mainly involves two doctoral degrees’position, mission and the similarities and differences in training models between them.The latter is mainly related to debates on the value and status of Ed.D., whether to abolish Ed.D. or not,the relationship between the two doctoral degrees, and approaches on problem-solving. The debates on Ed.D. are of great significance to U.S. Ed.D., which can be summarized as follows:the essence of the debates reflects the division of the aims and functions of higher education; the focus of debates reflects the tension between theory and practice; the origin of the debates is the difference between quality concept and culture concept; the debates themselves reflect the American culture and national spirit, the debates are helpful to maintain the natures of the university and of the nature of doctorates,which is consistent with the development within their laws.The emergence of Professional Doctorates including Ed.D. is due to knowledge production Mode2. The theory of knowledge production modes is the theoretical tool in this study. The transformation of knowledge production modes is the development dynamic, while U.S. social transformation and the veering of doctoral education formed an interactive relationship, which mainly assumed the veering of aims and structures of doctoral education, the interaction and promotions in the transformation of U.S. society and Professional Doctorates. In terms of epistemology on Ed.D., there happens the transformation of knowledge production modes, Mode2knowledge production shifted from Mode1; in terms of methodology, there is the intergenerational evolution of a Professional Doctorate:the first generation Professional Doctorate is a "Ph.D.+curriculum" mode, the second generation is a "hybrid courses+professional practice" mode, the third generation is a "student self-management" mode.The endless debates of Ed.D. and the internal and external development dynamic together prompt Ed.D. to constantly reform and innovate its training patterns. CPED mode outlines the main theoretical basis and major tasks, the leading agenda and operating mechanism, reform themes, main outcomes. Peabody mode discusses its theoretical basis of Ed.D. program reform and innovative Ed.D. training mode. HGSE mode outlines the Ed.D. program and Ed.L.D. program. From the three case study, the basic experience of U.S. Ed.D. reform modes includes:to stick to university autonomy and academic freedom, to highlight the second generation Ed.D. training mode, to seek institution improvement and outstanding personality.The basic findings of U.S. Ed.D. development dynamic and reform modes include:the reforms in higher education promote the emergence and development of Ed.D., the construction of modern university institution is the fundamental guarantee of the development of Ed.D., to solve Ed.D.’s problems depends on Ed.D.’s development and reforms, Ed.D.’s reforms must rely on multi-stakeholder’s cooperation. To contrast with U.S., the problems in China’s Ed.D. practice are as follows:degree structure is unbalanced, degree types are unbalanced, lack of modern university institution and institution guarantee, the concept is lagging behind, the training deviates from the norm. The reflection and inspirations of this study are as follows:to build a modern university institution in order to protect the development of Ed.D., to construct scientific philosophy of Ed.D., to construct our Ed.D. institution and training modes in comparative perspectives.