The spatial distribution, age distribution and kinematics of T Tauri stars, both close to and widely distributed around active clouds, are considered using simple models of T Tauri dispersal. Models are compared to observations in and around the nearby cloud complexes, in particular the recent discovery of widely scattered young stars from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. We suggest the dispersal of T Tauri stars has two major causes: slow isotropic drifting of stars away from long-lived star forming clouds, and star formation in short-lived rapidly moving cloudlets associated with large-scale turbulent motions of molecular cloud complexes. A third mechanism for dispersal, dynamical ejection of high velocity T Tauri stars, appears to be less important. Other implications include: star formation in at least one cloud (Chamaeleon I) has been continuous for ≃20 Myr; star formation efficiencies of clouds may often be 20% or higher; a large fraction of low-mass stars may form in small shoft-lived cloudlets each produ...